Istanbul-based Tosyali Holding has become the largest Turkish steelmaker. The company expanded its output by 54% y/y to 9.1mn tonnes in 2024 from 5.9mn tonnes in 2023, according to the latest global rankings issued by the World Steel Association.

Worldwide, Tosyali now ranks as the 46th largest steel producer, up from 67th a year ago. It is also the third largest in Europe, the company said in a press release.

Tosyali has around 50 plants across three continents. They have a combined annual production capacity of 15mn tonnes.

Unstoppable

In addition to plants in Turkey, the production facilities of Tosyali, launched in 1998, include plants in Algeria (Tosyali Algerie). The steelmaker also boasts a JV with Toyo Kohan, a unit of Toyo Seikan Group Holdings (Tokyo/5901) and a JV with Harsco Corporation (New York/HSC). Both JVs are located in Turkey's Osmaniye Province.

The company can be seen as having hit the jackpot over the last decade.

In 2021, Tosyali bought a 50.1% stake in BMC Sanayi from the Sancak and Ozturk (Galip Ozturk) families.

BMC was taken over from Mehmet Emin Karamehmet via the state's deposit insurance fund TMSF in 2013. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, first transferred it to Ethem Sancak in 2014. He gave the remaining 49% to Qatar’s sheikh.

There was a falling out with Ethem Sancak and Fuat Tosyali, the owner of Tosyali Holding, emerged as a new favourite. This kind of thing happens with Erdogan’s businessmen. From time to time, some new faces emerge, while some old faces drop out of contention.

Notably, BMC is supposed to produce Turkey’s "native and national" battle tank, the Altay.

In 2022, Erdogan made Fuat Tosyali a board member at his sovereign wealth fund (TWF/TVF) and, in 2024, appointed him chairman of his "native and national" car project Togg, with the enterprise said to have been Erdogan's very own idea.

Fuat Tosyali has two brothers, Ayhan and Fatih.

Screenshot: Whatever happened happened in the 10 years prior to 2021.

Eregli dethroned

The performance of Tosyali left former champion Eregli Demir Celik (Erdemir/EREGL) in the rear-view mirror.

Eregli, though, upped its output to 8.5mn tonnes from 7.2mn tonnes in 2023, moving up to a world ranking of 50th from 55th. And it should be noted that in terms of production in Turkey alone, Eregli is still the largest steelmaker. The company only has plants in Turkey. 

Five make the world ranking

Istanbul-based Habas, a producer of 3.8mn tonnes of steel in 2024 and ranked at 86th place worldwide, along with newcomers Colakoglu Metalurji (3.4mn tonnes, 95th on the ranking) and Istanbul-based Icdas (3.1mn tonnes, 101st) are the other Turkish companies that make the World Steel Association table.

104 turn out 3mn tonnes+ 

The trade association lists 104 companies in the world that each produced more than 3mn tonnes of steel in 2024.

Chinese dominance

China Baowu Group remains number one with 130mn tonnes/year, followed by Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal (Amsterdam/MT) with 65mn tonnes/year.

Six Chinese steelmakers feature in the Top 10, while 56 Chinese producers are listed in the 104-company ranking, showing China's indisputable dominance in steel.

Only five US companies are present in the ranking, while the EU claims eight.

Table: China in 2024 was behind 53% of global steel production, which amounted to 1.88bn tonnes.

Arcelor, Nippon, Posco and Tata

The four non-Chinese steelmakers in the Top 10 are ArcelorMittal (see above), Japan’s Nippon Steel Corporation (44mn tonnes/year, 4th), South Korea’s Posco Holding (38mn tonnes, 8th) and India’s Tata Steel Group (31mn tonnes, 10th) were the other three non-Chinese in the Top 10.

Four Indian players, three Korean

JSW Steel Limited, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (VIZAG Steel, 3.7mn tonnes/year) are the other Indian steelmakers in the ranking, while Hyundai Steel and Dongkuk Steel (3.1mn tonnes) are the other South Korean producers.

Seven Russian producers

Russia is represented by seven companies, namely Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK, 14mn tonnes/year, 30th), Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (London/MMK; Moscow/MAGN, 11mn tonnes, 39th), Severstal (10mn tonnes, 41st), EVRAZ (8mn tonnes, 54th), TMK (4.6mn tonnes, 75th), Mechel (3.4mn tonnes, 98th) and Metalloinvest Management Company (3.1mn tonnes, 103rd).

Three Brazilian, two Vietnamese companies

Brazil has three ranking producers, including Gerdau S.A., Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN, 3.8mn), Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais S.A. (USIMINAS, 3.2mn), while Vietnam has two, namely Hoa Phat Steel (8.7mn) and Formosa Ha Tinh (6mn).

Ranking Argentinian, Iranian, Egyptian, Saudi and Ukrainian companies

Argentina’s Techint Group (14mn tonnes/year, 28th), Iran’s Mobarakeh Steel Company (10mn tonnes, 44th), Egypt’s Ezz Steel (6.4mn tonnes), Saudi Iron and Steel Company (Hadeed, 5.4mn tonnes) and Ukraine’s Metinvest Holding LLC (3.5mn tonnes) have also earned places in the ranking.