Hürriyet/Dünya - Turkish steelmaker Tosyali Holding in partnership with Japan’s Toyo Kohan has broken ground for a USD 500 million facility in Türkiye’s southern province of Osmaniye, that will produce specialized steel for a wide range of applications including food packaging, automotive, home appliances and computer products.
Scheduled to reach the operational stage in 20 months, the Tosyali-Toyo investment will reduce annual imports of specialized steel by USD 500 million, while contributing USD 300 million to Türkiye’s steel exports, and causing an overall drop of USD 800 million in the country’s current account deficit.
“Being the latest example of Turkish-Japanese friendship, this investment symbolizes the increasing cooperation between our countries, especially in strategic fields”, Türkiye’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said at the groundbreaking ceremony, also attended by Lutfi Elvan, Türkiye’s Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications, Ilker Ayci, President of the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Türkiye (ISPAT) as well as company executives and business leaders.
Prime Minister Davutoglu went on to say that the investment would be an important milestone in the Turkish steel industry’s qualitative change, and that Tosyali-Toyo was expected to play a leading role in that regard. Tosyali will have a 51 percent stake in the JV, while the remainder will belong to Toyo Kohan.
Türkiye is the 8th largest steel producer in the world according to the World Steel Association’s data for 2013.