According to a statement released by the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association (DCUD), in February this year Turkey's crude steel production fell by 7.1 percent compared to January and was down by 3.9 percent year on year, amounting to 2.7 million mt. Turkey's crude steel production via blast furnaces rose by 5.4 percent year on year, amounting to 787,000 mt, while crude steel production using EAFs was below 1.9 million mt, falling 7.4 percent compared to February 2012.

The DCUD said that Turkish crude steel output maintained its downtrend in February, after falling 8.8 percent in January compared to the same month of 2012. Accordingly, the decline in Turkey's crude steel production was due to the contraction of demand in global markets, mainly in the EU, and aggravated competition circumstances.

In the first two months of the current year, the country's crude steel output amounted to 5.5 million mt, down 6.5 percent year on year. In this period, steel production using EAFs amounted to 3.9 million mt, with a decrease of 11.6 percent, while production via blast furnaces rose by 7.8 percent to 1.7 million mt, both compared to the same period of 2012.