‘We will assemble 4 million tons of rebar in 4 months for housing construction in the earthquake zone’
Veysel Yayan, general secretary of the Turkish Steel Producers Association (TÇÜD), said that about 4 million tons of rebar needed to rebuild houses in the earthquake-affected provinces in Kahramanmaraş can be supplied by the industry in a period of 4 months.
Yayan also said that in this process, rebar exports may not be a priority, even partially.
‘YOU MAY EXPERIENCE A MONTH OF PRODUCTION LOSS’
Stating that 32 percent of Turkey’s steel production is in facilities in the quake-hit region, Yayan said a production loss of one month may be in question in all such facilities; however, he stated that this loss can be easily offset by installations in other regions.
While the two earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 in Kahramanmaraş, which occurred on Monday morning and at noon last week, caused great destruction in 10 provinces where approximately 13.4 million people lived, 35,418 people lost life according to the latest information.
According to the latest data announced yesterday by the Ministry of the Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change; While damage assessment studies have been conducted on 387,346 buildings so far, the number of buildings requiring urgent demolition has been determined at 50,576 and the number of free-standing units in these buildings at 224,923.
ERDOĞAN SAID IT WILL BE BUILT IN A YEAR
President Tayyip Erdoğan, in a statement after the earthquake, said that they would build the demolished houses within a year through TOKİ.
In his statement after the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday night, Erdogan said the construction of 30,000 houses could start as early as March and all the houses will be built gradually.
In the information letter sent to the members the day before by TÇÜD, the opinion of the association was requested before the meeting of the council of ministers on the national procurement of approximately 4 million tons of rebar needed for the renovation of the buildings. destroyed in the earthquake zone in the next 3-4 months and whether rebar prices can be fixed in foreign currency and steelmakers were asked for their opinion on this matter.
‘WE CAN RECEIVE YOU WITH COMFORT’
TÇÜD Secretary General Veysel Yayan, in his assessment to Reuters, said that member steelmakers’ returns were positive and they did not foresee any difficulties in supply: “Turkey has an annual production of around 24 million tonnes of corrugated. We can easily afford this,” he said, adding:
“Based on the need for 5,000 kilos of rod for a house, 4 million tons of rod points to around 800,000 houses. garden wall etc. in its construction. When we consider other areas like, roughly speaking, we can talk about a number of houses like 500 thousand-600 thousand.
Therefore, the figure here is not for the initial 30,000 homes, but to understand the entire need. We did the calculation based on 4 months, no problem. If it extends a little more than 4 months, there will be no problem”.
Yayan discussed whether it would be possible to price rebar in dollars during such a process:
“Foreign currency pricing may be related to labor or parts purchased domestically. But regarding scrap, there’s a question mark there, as we can’t control the prices there. That issue can also be understood during negotiations.”
‘EXPORT MAY BE PARTIALLY INTERRUPTED’
Emphasizing that his priority is the supply of products to the domestic market within the framework of the housing reconstruction works, Yayan pointed out that this may have a partial negative impact on exports.
Yayan said: “Within this timetable, perhaps the export of rebar is not a full priority, but a partial one. If there is a demand for us within the scope of the earthquake, the others lose their priority. The earthquake is our first priority,” he said.
According to TÇÜD data, the Turkish steel industry reached a record production level of 40.4 million tons in 2021. The industry’s production, meanwhile, decreased by 12.9 percent to 35.1 million tons in 2022 due to the contraction of the markets caused by the Russia-Ukraine war and the sharp increase in energy prices. Exports amounted to 15.1 million tons with a decrease of 23.5 percent in quantity and 13.9 billion dollars with a decrease of 15.7 percent in value.
32 PERCENT OF STEEL PRODUCTION IS AT FACILITIES IN THE AREA OF THE EARTHQUAKE
Stating that 32 percent of Turkey’s steel production takes place at facilities in the earthquake-affected region in Kahramanmaraş, Yayan said, “32 percent of the production, i.e. around 13 million tons, is carried out on the premises in the earthquake. region. It will take some time for employees to return to work and return to their normal routine. Therefore, since facilities cannot start production at full capacity immediately, there may be an average production loss of 1 month here. But these losses can be covered by steel companies from other regions, ”he said.
Stating that capacity utilization rates in the sector fell to 50 percent in the second half of last year due to low demand, and was 63 percent for the full year, Yayan said there would be no problem in terms of production as there is empty capacity at other facilities.
Yayan, for his part, pointed out that production is being carried out gradually in the steel plants in the area of the earthquake; He said there are those who started production, some will start this week, some will start production next week. (Reuters)