Ferrous & Non-Ferrous Metals Exporters: Turkey’s Production down by 11 percent

US President Donald Trump’s threat to increase the tax tariff applied to Turkish steel exports from 25 percent to 50 percent was met with concern by Turkish iron and steel exporters. Chairman of the Board of Aegean Iron and Non-Ferrous Metals Exporters Association said that a similar scenario had been experienced earlier as well.

He added that the customs duty on steel exports to the US was increased to 50 percent in August 2018. Although the customs duty to the US was decreased to 25 percent in May 2019, steel exports to the US declined from 2.4 million tons in 2017 to nearly 450 thousand tons.

The chairman pointed out that in case the customs duty was increased from 25 to 50 percent again, concerned Turkish exports to the US would be drastically reduced. He said, “Currently, there is no customs duty on steel imports from Mexico and Brazil to the USA. We already started to struggle because of the tax advantages provided to these countries. So, in case of another increase in the customs duty will almost put an end to our prospects of exporting to the USA“.

The chairman explained that Turkey’s iron and steel production was 38.2 million tons in 2018, said “Although increase in customs duty by USA is not the only reason, iron and steel production in Turkey declined to 34 million tons corresponding to a decrease of 11 percent.

Meanwhile, steel production in the US increased by 6 percent as steel plants that could not produce in the US before Trump started production.

While the lobbying efforts of steel and coal producers on the Trump Administration yielded results, the American public had to pay 80 percent more to meet their steel needs. Thus end-users in America had to suffer from these restrictions on imports. Americans want to access Turkish steel with or without customs duties at the same rates as other countries. ”

He noted that they considered the possibility of US increasing the customs duty to Turkish steel to 50 percent as a possibility. “If the customs duty increases, our chances of exporting except for iron and steel products which are considered as strategic by the US, will severely decrease. As the sector, we are making intensive efforts to sell Turkish steel in alternative markets“