Bulgaria is ready to increase metal production because of the Green Deal
Source：Investor BG
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Sofia
Update Time：2023/03/07
Steel plants in Turkey are closing for weeks - how will it affect business in the region, comments the director of the Bulgarian Association of the Metallurgical Industry
The shocks currently experienced by Turkish metallurgy will not affect Bulgarian production and will be overcome quickly. Among the factors is that it is not the construction season at the moment, and also the better purchase prices that developers are finding in countries like Egypt, for example. In addition, Bulgaria is fully able to satisfy the needs of its own market, and with the actual deployment of the Green Deal and increased demand, to significantly increase its production capacity. Politimi Paunova , executive director of the Bulgarian Association of the Metallurgical Industry (BAMI) , commented on this in the program "Business Start" on Bloomberg TV Bulgaria .
"The difficulties in the metallurgical industry in Turkey, caused by the destructive earthquake in our southern neighbor, will not significantly affect the Bulgarian market," she pointed out. According to her, the main export of Turkey is not aimed at the European Union, metals are exported that Europe can produce itself, but they are imported for other reasons and they are usually expensive. "These imports have the effect of reducing production in Europe. Therefore, Turkey is among the countries that have quotas - a restriction on the import of steel products. For example, in Bulgaria, 50% of rebar imports come from Turkey, but we have capacities that can fully meet the needs of iron construction," confirmed Paunova.
She reported that due to exports to Europe and other destinations, Turkish metallurgy has significantly increased its production in recent years, with the volume being around 40 million tons for 2021. "The fact is that they overtook Germany and are in the top 10 producers in the world," Paunova announced.
She is convinced that Turkey will quickly recover its metallurgical production because it is not associated with a large volume of labor for the already high-tech processes.
Paunova noted that for steel, which is produced, in addition to classical methods, from ore and from scrap, more than 70% of the Bulgarian export of scrap in the amount of more than 500 thousand tons per year is to Turkey. However, she drew attention to the dependence of metallurgy on energy sources and the increase in their prices, but reminded that there were certain state compensations for producers in 2021 and 2022 and metallurgy is working well, but investments in many places are frozen.
"The most energy-intensive industries worked on the edge of their profitability, and at times even at a loss, especially in non-ferrous metallurgy in the production of zinc, electrolytic copper and steel production. These are the most energy-intensive industries in our country," explained the executive director of the Bulgarian Association of the metallurgical industry.
Paunova hopes that investments will return to Bulgarian enterprises, because they have prospects for production in connection with the Green Deal. "They have to maintain their competitiveness, and this cannot be done without investment. The new policies of the EU related to the decarbonization of the whole economy and of the energy sector require very large quantities of metals. In all renewable energy sources - both wind, solar and water - large quantities of metals are required, and the increase there is many times greater. These metals - steel, copper, aluminum, which Bulgaria produces. I believe that there is a chance not only to maintain production, but also to significantly increase it, naturally on the basis of investments and competitiveness".
Source: https://www.investor.bg/a/461-bloomberg-tv/369481-p-paunova-balgariya-e-gotova-da-uvelichi-proizvodstvo-na-metali-zaradi-zelenata-sdelka