Turkish steelmaker Koc Metalurji, is extending its suspension of operations into May as steel product sales remain challenging in both, the domestic and export markets because of COVID-19’s spread.
The company stopped production on April 7, as reported by Davis Index earlier, but has not seen the market improve since then. The steelmaker told Davis Index it was open to considering extending the shutdown period into June as well if market conditions do not improve.
Turkish mills are facing the dual challenge of high ferrous scrap prices and low prices for steel products in the current market environment.
Koc Metalurji, which focuses on billet production, is in the Iskenderun region of Turkey. The mill has capacity of 1.2mn mt of crude steel per year.