1 September 2009 / TODAY'S ZAMAN WITH WIRES, İSTANBUL
Turkey's raw steel production slumped by some 17.3 percent in the first six months of the year over the same period of 2008, data from the World Steel Association has shown. Raw steel production in Turkey in the first half of this year was 11.76 million tons.
In the January-June period of this year, the global raw steel production also shrunk by 21.3 percent over the same months of the preceding year. In the first half of 2009, global raw steel production reached 549.2 million tons while this number was 698.2 million tons in the same period of 2008. Only two countries among the 15 biggest steel producers, China and India, saw an increase in production in the given period while Turkey, along with the other 12, saw decline in raw material production. China' raw steel production increased by 1.2 percent in the first half of 2009 over the same period of 2008 while this number was 1.3 for India. The US suffered the highest decline in raw steel production in the mentioned period with 51.8 percent decreas.
