Speaking at the EUROMETAL Steel Day & YISAD Flat Steel Conference, which took place at the Marriott Hotel Asia in Istanbul on Tuesday, April 8, in cooperation with SteelOrbis, Tolga Yalgi, CEO of Turkish steel producer Tatmetal, informed the participants about the company's investments and shared his opinion on the development of the global market.
Stating that Tatmetall continues its strategic growth in the domestic and foreign markets and investments in technology, Mr. Yalgi said that in 2024 the company delivered almost one million metric tons of coated products to foreign markets.
He also said that with the commissioning of new cold rolling and galvanizing lines with a capacity of 5 million metric tons per year, they can now produce annealed and coated products of various sizes.
"Thanks to these investments, we are now able to produce coated products with a thickness from 24 mm to 4 mm and a width from 800 mm to 1650 mm with high quality.
In this way, we can provide higher standards and faster service in the home appliance and automotive sectors," he said. On the other hand, he stated that they also have serious investments in the energy sector. "11 of our wind turbines have started generating energy.
When they are fully operational, the installed capacity of our plant will be 66 megawatts and it will generate 200 million kilowatt-hours of energy per year.
This year, the construction of a solar power plant at our plant will also be completed, and we will produce an additional 180 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, providing all our clean energy needs. We also expect our new 50 megawatt wind farm to be commissioned in early 2026," he said.
The CEO of Tatmetal also spoke about the risks, uncertainties and the latest developments in the global market. He said that the new import taxes announced by the US and the restrictions imposed by the EU on the origin of processed raw materials, in addition to the existing practice of anti-dumping and quotas, would create serious difficulties in terms of export competitiveness.
"The changing structure of global commercial, military, and political alliances is leading to a new polarization. This polarization also causes changes in the availability of raw materials and their prices. Accordingly, it becomes difficult to compete," he said.
He also stressed that China may have become the starting point of these difficulties, noting that the country has transformed from a country producing inexpensive products due to its industrialization and cheap labor costs.,
