1 billion dollar investment target from Kardemir

Members of the board of directors, General Manager Necdet Utkanlar and shareholders attended the ordinary general assembly meeting at the Education and Culture Center where the activities of KARDEMİR for the year 2022 were discussed.

Alparslan Bayraktar, who is also the Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, said in his speech that world crude steel production was 1 billion 879 million tons in 2022 with a decrease of 4.2 percent compared to the previous year.

Stating that crude steel production in Turkey, which is the eighth largest producer in the world, decreased by 12.9 percent compared to the previous year and fell to 35.1 million tons, Bayraktar said, “While Turkey’s steel product exports decreased by 23.5 percent in 2022 due to the global recession, imports fell by a more limited rate of 3.6 percent. said.

Bayraktar stated that in 2022, a total of 2.22 million tons of crude steel and 2.14 million tons of finished products were produced in KARDEMİR.

Stating that they have ensured the continuity of semi-products in wide profile production with new mold investments in the steel mill continuous casting facility, Bayraktar said:

“We have made the production programs more efficient. Again, we have produced a total of 481 thousand tons of finished products in the high value added profile, rail and plate product groups at the Rail Profile Rolling Mill. Again in this period, high strength coils, bolt and nut steels used in the automotive industry and machinery We have added 136 high value-added products to our portfolio, especially engineering steels used in the manufacturing industry and qualified coils used in the construction of railway fasteners.”

“In 2022, sales of railway wheels increased by 456 percent”

Stating that last year, the sales of profiles, which are among the products with high added value, increased by 9 percent, the sales of thick coils increased by 41 percent, and the sales of railway wheels increased by 456 percent, “European Union, the Balkans, North Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East. While we had export markets in 2022, an export income of 45.5 million dollars was achieved. We have set it as our priority target to increase our exports with new markets and new customers this year. ” he said.

Pointing out that they achieved very positive results in both profitability and cash flow with the positive effect of demand in the first half of the year, Bayraktar said, “In the second half of the year, the negative effects of the Russia-Ukraine war on demand and energy costs had serious negative effects on all world economies, especially on the steel industry. Despite all this, our sales amounted to TL 27.4 billion with an increase of 85.6 percent compared to the previous year. Consolidated EBITDA for 2022 was USD 135 per ton, and our net profit in total was TL 2.17 billion. used the phrases.

Emphasizing that investments such as the new ladle furnace, vacuum facility, additional continuous casting machine, which they started to increase the production of high value added steel and to provide product diversity, in addition to environmental investments, Bayraktar emphasized that they will focus on projects this year and said: I would like to share our new investment target, which will reach 1 billion dollars within the year.” said.