On Monday, the major cement and steel manufacturers in Türkiye saw a rise in their stock prices at the top of the bourse’s main index, driven by expectations of increasing construction works following recent devastating earthquakes.
Shares in the big cement and steel producers advanced almost 10%, compared to a 1.91% increase in Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange’s BIST 100 index.
Türkiye stepped up work to clear rubble from collapsed buildings on Monday, as rescue work wound down two weeks after two major earthquakes killed more than 41,000 people in southeastern Türkiye, and severely hit neighboring Syria.
Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said that nearly 13,000 excavators, cranes, trucks and other industrial vehicles had been sent to the quake zone.
The ministry said Sunday that some 105,794 buildings checked by Türkiye’s Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry were destroyed or damaged enough to require demolition.
Of these, 20,662 had collapsed, the statement said. The damaged or destroyed buildings contained more than 384,500 units, mostly residential apartments.
Days after Türkiye’s worst earthquake in modern history rocked the country, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed that the state would complete housing reconstruction within a year and said the government was preparing a program to “make the country stand up again.”
Direct costs from the destruction of physical structures from the devastating earthquake on Feb. 6 could amount to 2.5% of growth in domestic product, or $25 billion (TL 471.65 billion), JPMorgan said on Thursday.
“The construction works planned to rebuild after devastating earthquakes support sectors such as cement, iron and steel,” said Serdar Pazı, research director at Trive Yatırım.
Strategist Tunç Satıroğlu said that investors’ expectation for a rise in construction activities after the earthquake supported the steel and construction sectors.
Manufacturer and vendor of cement and clinker Oyak Çimento was the top performer, rising 9.96%.
Shares of steel producer Iskenderun Demir (Isdemir) rose 9.95%, while Bera Holding, which owns construction units, increased 9.91%.
Bursa Çimento climbed 9.69%.
