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Turkey has a 9.6 bcm per year contract with Iran due to expire in 2026.
Turkish gas importers have racked up a $2bn debt with Russia’s Gazprom, sources told the Wall Street Journal on June 15, after failing to meet payments under their take-or-pay contracts.
9.1.8 ​Metallurgy & mining sector news
9.1.9 ​Other sector news
Some 80% of natural graphite is in China, Brazil and Turkey, according to a report​ from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) that looks at how supplies of lithium and other minerals used in rechargeable batteries are highly concentrated in just a few countries, leaving the raw materials vulnerable to disruption as a boom in electric cars bolsters demand.
White goods sales in Turkey ​jumped​ 14% on an annual basis in June after declining 8% in May, but a trading group warned that the sector was not yet out of the woods.
Some 816,000 white goods units were sold on the domestic market while the sector’s exports remained flat compared with the same month of last year at 1.7mn units.
“The improvement in consumer confidence and strong home sales boosted household appliances sales in June,” said Can Dincer, a senior executive at the White Goods Manufacturers’ Association, TURKBESD.
“We expect a better market outlook in July but the possibility of a second wave of the coronavirus outbreak in the remainder of the year prevents me from making a forecast for 2020,” he said.
In the first six months of the year, sales on the domestic market grew only 4% on an annual basis, while Turkish white goods exports sank 14% y/y, TURKBESD also stated.
“The pandemic has hit European nations, which absorbs around 70% of the industry’s exports. That is why local producers’ export performance was rather poor,” Dinçer said.
Turkey is the world’s second largest manufacturer of white goods after China. Last year, the country’s output stood at 28.2mn units.
9.2 ​Major corporate news 9.2.1​ Oil & gas corporate news
The largest Turkish refiner, Tupras, is gradually bringing Izmir Refinery units online​, in line with its previously announced schedule, according to a stock exchange ​filing​.
On April 30, Tupras said that it would halt production at its 220,000 barrel per day (bpd) Izmir oil refinery from May 5 to July 1, having revised down its 2020 expectations.
The refinery’s annual production capacity of 11.9mn tonnes (tpy) makes up 40% of Tupras’ 30mn tpy overall capacity.
On March 30, Reuters quoted unnamed trading sources as saying that Tupras
76​ TURKEY Country Report​ August 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com