Can we get to know you and your company?
Birkan Kahraman:
Sure, I am Birkan Kahraman. I was born in Kdz. Ereğli. I am married with two children. After my education in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at ITU, I entered the industry. Following a 25-year career, I co-founded Bosco Metal, an international trading company operating in the steel sector, with my university friend Osman Ateşli. We leverage the knowledge and experience we’ve gained in the sector to provide the best service to our clients.
Osman Ateşli:
I was born in Istanbul, married, and a father of one child. I also graduated from ITU in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. I started my career in steel and later managed sales for a global refractory company. In 2022, I joined forces with Birkan Kahraman to establish Bosco Metal.
Bosco Metal is a leading international trading company in the steel industry. Our mission at Bosco Metal is to forge strong connections and offer our clients the opportunity to obtain the right products at the right time and at the right price through our global connections and expert knowledge.
At Bosco Metal, we focus on maximizing our clients’ commercial success by utilizing our extensive international network, sectoral expertise, and comprehensive strategies.
Could you inform our readers about your product range?
We offer procurement and sales operations, product development, quality control, and logistics services in the iron and steel, scrap, refractory, aluminum, and raw materials sectors. We provide these at the highest level through strong partnerships, a quality-focused approach, and customer satisfaction principles.
How do you assess the demand in the sectors you serve?
Birkan Kahraman:
In 2023, we experienced a significant drop in demand. High production costs, quotas and tariffs reduced Turkey’s competitiveness in export markets, and thus the demand. Additionally, global economic stagnation, China’s increasing exports, and high inflation led to a decrease in steel production and exports in Turkey in 2023.
I believe the global economy will slowly recover in 2024. We expect demand in the steel sector to increase with the decrease in inflation and interest rate cuts in Europe and America.
Osman Ateşli:
China’s production has shown a decline since the beginning of the year, and expectations for the rest of the year are in the same direction, reducing the impact of China. It is also beneficial to closely monitor the upward movement in India. The increase in production in Turkey will be reflected parallelly in refractory consumption.
What can you say about the price trends under current conditions?
Birkan Kahraman:
Although prices have been falling due to continued low demand in recent weeks, I don’t think this will last long. Signals of increased consumption in Europe and America and the economic revival trend indicate that prices of steel products will rise.
In response to changes, we continue our research and maintain our dominance in the Turkish and global markets, providing our clients with long-term and proactive strategic connections for sustainable success.
Within Bosco Metal, we turn these conditions to our clients’ advantage through solid partnerships, elevating their commercial success to the highest level by supporting them with our sectoral expertise and procurement & sales operations.
What are your comments on trade and competition, considering the economic situation and costs?
Birkan Kahraman:
Given that Turkey is dependent on imports for raw materials, increases in scrap and energy costs, global economic stagnation, and protectionist measures implemented by countries will challenge our competitiveness. Additionally, the forecast of rising foreign exchange rates in our country indicates that production costs will continue to rise. In this scenario, leveraging competitive advantages will enhance success.
Osman Ateşli:
The acquisition of local firms by global refractory companies has strengthened their hand in Turkey and surrounding markets. While the competitive effects of Chinese manufacturers are periodic, they are the quickest to be affected by rising transportation costs. The issues in the Suez Canal are a current example. Container shipping rates from China increased 3-4 times in a short period.
What is the share of domestic and international purchases in your product supply?
Osman Ateşli:
We represent foreign companies in refractory and aluminum products. One of our companies is from Slovakia, and the other three are from Germany.
Birkan Kahraman:
We represent a Polish company in steel scrap. For deep sea scrap, we serve producers in Turkey. We mediate the import of an average of 300,000 mt of scrap annually. Additionally, we sell Turkish steel products, primarily to European and Balkan countries, as well as South America and Africa.
Steel scrap is becoming increasingly important due to the green economy and reasons like carbon emissions. Therefore, scrap is already being referred to as “the new gold” in the markets. Considering Turkey’s dependency on imports in the scrap sector, we believe measures should be taken to avoid a raw material supply bottleneck in the coming years. We will continue our efforts with our global partners to achieve Turkey’s green steel targets.
How was the year 2023, and what are your expectations for 2024?
The Turkish steel industry entered 2023 with the continued demand contraction from the last quarter of 2022. Global economic stagnation, the February 6 earthquake, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the aggressive exports of China and India caused the supply-demand imbalance to persist.
Uncertainty seems to continue in the first half of 2024. However, expectations of economic recovery in Europe and the weakening impact of China on the market in the second half of 2024 will drive demand upwards again. This situation will positively reflect on Bosco Metal’s sales as well.
Any final words?
With ongoing investments, we believe that Turkey will maintain its seventh place in the global market, surpassing Germany. At the same time, we see that green steel investments are rapidly continuing in many of our factories. We are pleased to support this by providing scrap from Poland.
With the strong connections we establish and our environmentally respectful, sustainable practices, we believe we will add value to the sector globally, especially in Turkey.