Turkey may regain Israeli cement shipments if export ban is lifted: market participants

Turkey will likely regain its export share in the cement trade if the temporary ban on shipments to Israel is lifted, according to the Turkish cement association, market experts and industry participants.

"Cement exports from Turkey [in 2025] showed growth in each of the top ten destinations compared to the previous year," said Ender Sahin, vice president at Turkish Cement, a semi-governmental association representing cement producers and exporters in Turkey.

"Turkey's cement exports have increased by more than 100% in the last ten years," Sahin said on the sidelines of the Intercem conference in Dubai on Feb. 4.

Market participants at the event said that while Turkey's temporary halt on exports to Israel boosted Egyptian flows to the latter, an eventual lifting of the trade ban will affect Egypt's market share in Israel.

Turkey halted all export and import activities with Israel in May 2024 due to its attacks on Gaza.

"If a framework for peace in Gaza is found that addresses Turkey's concerns, we understand that the ban on exports to Israel could theoretically be lifted, with significant consequences for regional cement trade," said Yassine Touahri, founding partner at On Field Investment Research.

Data from the World Bank's Comtrade showed that Turkey was Israel's primary source for cement before trade was halted in 2024, while cement became Egypt's top exported product by value to Israel in 2024.

"Egypt would lose its near-monopoly on exports to Israel, and many Turkish plants currently exporting to Africa, the US, and Europe could become more comfortable raising prices, even at the expense of losing some market share to Vietnam in the US and Africa, as it could be more attractive to redirect volumes to the Middle East rather than selling to cash costs in distant markets," Touahri said.

Growth in Egypt's domestic sales volume, "along with healthy cement and clinker export activity, paved the way for healthy recovery in local selling prices [in 2025]," said Mark Adeeb, industrials sector head at CI Capital Holding.

Egypt's cement and clinker exports rose at a compound annual growth rate of 23% over 2021-2025, reaching the highest level in 2024, Adeeb said.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed Cement Clinker FOB Turkey at $45/mt Jan. 29, up 25 cents/mt week over week, and $7/mt above the inaugural assessment of $38/mt on Jan. 9, 2025.

Turkey's cement exports rise

Turkey's exports rose 14% year over year to 15.53 million mt in 2025, according to data from Turkish Cement.

The US remained Turkey's top export destination, with volumes up 10.95% year over year to 7.48 million mt in 2025, according to the data.

Cement production rose 8% year over year to 77.1 million mt over January-October 2025, the data showed.

The country's clinker production continued its uptrend in the first 10 months of 2025, with volumes reaching 67.5 million mt, up 4% from the corresponding period in 2024, the data showed.

"Turkey's clinker and cement capacity has shown an overall upward trend between 2015 and 2024, with clinker capacity reaching 101 million mt and cement capacity reaching 149 million mt as of 2024," Sahin said.

Platts assessed CEMDEX Turkey at $54/mt Jan. 29, up 5 cents/mt week over week, and $3/mt above the inaugural assessment of $51/mt on Jan. 9, 2025.