ANKIROS 2026 Review: Refractory Trends for Steel Plants

Four Shifts in Refractory Buying for Steel Plants in Türkiye and Nearby Markets

Executive Summary: ANKIROS 2026, the 17th edition, ran from 22 to 24 October at the Istanbul Fair Center. Trade press reported more than 1,100 participants, with exhibitors from 39 foreign countries, and it shared the week with the 23rd International Metallurgy and Materials Congress and the 76th World Foundry Congress. The public themes were low-carbon production, digital manufacturing and Türkiye’s scrap-based electric arc furnace model. The newest worldsteel data, released on 23 October, put Türkiye’s January to September 2026 output at 29.8 million tons, up 6.1%, with September up only 0.8%. For refractories, we read four shifts, and these are our own judgement, not the organizer’s: lower-carbon linings, lifetime evidence beyond the data sheet, faster dry or monolithic installation, and buying by cost per heat.

The fair closed on 24 October. We searched for final 2026 attendance totals on 30 October and did not find them in press reports or on the organizer’s site. Treat the 2026 visitor line as an expectation, not a result, and check the organizer for the closing figures.

What shared the week

The 76th World Foundry Congress ran from 18 to 24 October in Istanbul with more than 1,000 participants, in the year of the World Foundry Organization’s 100th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the Turkish Foundry Industrialists Association. The 23rd IMMC ran over the same three days as ANKIROS at the same venue, with topics that included sustainable metallurgy, critical raw materials, advanced materials and the circular economy. A TURKCAST section covered foundry products for automotive, energy, defense and heavy industry.

Who the show serves

The 2024 edition listed iron and steel producers, users and traders, foundries, non-ferrous producers, machinery makers, defense, cement, automotive, white goods, construction and shipping among visitor sectors. For a refractory supplier, that mix matters. Steel plants buy ladle and tundish linings, foundries buy ladle and furnace linings, and both buy from the same shortlist of suppliers.

The Market Behind the Show: Türkiye’s Steel Numbers

The opening speeches gave the clearest data of the week.

For context, at the 2024 opening the same association reported that production had risen 14.9% and exports 45.3% that year.

What the newest numbers say

The pace is slowing. Growth was 7.9% for January to July, 6.1% for January to September, and only 0.8% in September itself. Worldwide, worldsteel put January to September output at 1,367.5 million tons, down 0.7%.

Here is our own arithmetic. The association’s year-end expectation is 40 million tons. With 29.8 million tons made by the end of September, the last three months need about 10.2 million tons, or roughly 3.4 million tons a month, against 3.2 million in September. It is reachable, but it needs a stronger fourth quarter than the latest month.

What does that mean for refractories? The capacity is there, the plants keep running, and the pressure on margins is real. That is the setting in which a steel plant counts the cost of every heat.

Why scrap and EAF matter to refractory demand

Participants pointed to the electric arc furnace route and the high scrap share as Türkiye’s advantage in the green transition. That is also a refractory story, and here is our own reading of it.

An EAF shop runs many heats a day. Every heat is a thermal cycle for the furnace, the ladle and the tundish. Scrap changes slag chemistry from heat to heat. Ladle turnaround is short, and a ladle that sits cold between heats suffers. So the lining does not wear in a smooth line, it wears in steps, and the steps follow the practice on the floor.

Headwinds the buyers feel

Speakers also talked about the difficult side. EU import quotas have reduced Turkish steel exports to the region, and producers called for protection of strategic capacity against price pressure from imports. Opening reports also named global overcapacity, carbon regulation and imports from China and the Far East among the pressures. The EU’s carbon border mechanism moved to its definitive phase on 1 January 2026.

We should be honest about where we stand. We are a Chinese supplier, and we know the price-pressure conversation includes us. We will not try to answer it by being the cheapest on the quote. We would rather be the one who can show lining life, trial data and a clear cost per heat. That is the thread through the rest of this review.

Four Shifts We Read from the Show

This section is our judgement. The facts we cite are linked at the end. The conclusions are ours, and a plant engineer may read the same show differently.

Shift 1: Lower-carbon thinking reaches the lining

What was said in public

The Minister said work on a low-carbon roadmap for the casting sector has started. Opening reports listed low-carbon production, renewable energy, energy saving and emissions reduction among the themes. Sector representatives said the EAF and scrap model gives Türkiye an advantage, but that predictable policy is needed to turn it into real change.

What we did not find

We looked for evidence that carbon-free magnesia-carbon bricks or hydrogen-ready refractories were the headline of the show. In the reports we read, hydrogen was not mentioned, and refractories appeared as an equipment category rather than as a theme. We are not going to claim a race we could not document.

Our reading

Carbon in an MgO-C brick does real work. It keeps slag from wetting the brick and helps the brick survive thermal shock. So lower carbon is a zone-by-zone decision, not a slogan.

A note on binders

Resin binders release volatiles on the first heat-up. Cleaner binder systems cut emissions in the shop, but they must still cure and hold the brick together at the right temperature. We would not change a binder without a trial and a heating log.

Shift 2: Lifetime evidence beats the data sheet

A TDS tells you what a brick was when it left the press. It does not tell you what it does in your ladle. We expect more buyers to ask for evidence from similar service: heat counts by zone, residual thickness profiles, cut-brick reports and preheat logs.

Advanced tools such as XRD and SEM help when a case needs them. Most cases are solved earlier, with a residual brick cut open and good records. Our guide on diagnosing vertical cracks near the purging plug shows what that looks like in practice.

Five pieces of evidence to ask a supplier for

1. Heat count by zone, from a ladle with similar steel grades and turnaround.
2. Residual thickness profile at removal.
3. A cut-brick report: decarburized depth, penetration, layering, edge and centre density.
4. The preheat and first-heat log.
5. A cost-per-heat sheet that includes installation and downtime.

Shift 3: Dry and monolithic installation keeps growing

Evidence from the show magazine

The ANKIROS 2026 foundry magazine carried a supplier case on dry-vibratable refractories in ladle relining at two large Turkish foundries, using 1.2-ton ladles and more than 50 tons of material. The supplier reported that installation time fell from about four hours to one, and that the new lining lasted for more than 80 heats. It also said the method removed water, a mixer and the conventional drying period. These are the supplier’s own figures.

A Chinese mixer manufacturer also reported showing planetary, intensive and muller mixers for refractory work. That is company reporting too, but it fits the picture: monolithic work is moving toward material and equipment sold as one package.

Where the limits are

That case is a foundry ladle, not a steel ladle. In steel plants, dry vibration mix is well established in the tundish, and monolithic ladle linings keep gaining ground, but the slag line of a steel ladle still needs bricks in many practices. Our notes on tundish dry mix versus silica board and on ladle casting versus MgO-C brick lining cover where each approach pays.

Shift 4: Price per tonne gives way to cost per heat

This is the shift we feel most strongly, and we did not find it stated at the show in these words. It is our judgement about where the buying conversation is going.

Cost per heat = (material + installation + downtime + repairs) / heats.

A cheaper brick that fails ten heats earlier is the more expensive brick. A dearer material that installs in a quarter of the time can be the cheaper one. Once a plant starts counting this way, the supplier’s job changes: it is no longer enough to ship on time. The supplier has to help the plant measure.

What it asks from suppliers

• A trial plan with a clear baseline.
• Zone-by-zone records, shared openly.
• A reply with an engineering view, not only a price.
• A willingness to say when a new grade will not fix the problem.

What This Means for Each Reader

Plant refractory engineers

Start a lining log by zone and by heat if you do not have one. Record preheat and turnaround. Keep the residual bricks. Those three habits answer most supplier discussions before they start.

Refractory purchasing and technical buyers

Ask for cost per heat in the quotation, not only price per tonne. Use this checklist for the next request for quotation.

Local agents and distributors

A plant usually wants three things from a local partner: a fast answer, someone who can discuss technical detail, and no surprise on the first shipment. That is what we try to build around.

How YK Chanshine Will Work with Türkiye and Nearby Markets

What we make

We manufacture refractories for the steelmaking route from furnace to caster: MgO-C, MgO-Al2O3-C and Al2O3-MgO-C bricks, magnesia dry mix, tundish dry vibration mix and boards, precast tundish shapes and castables. We also supply continuous casting molds and rolling mill spare parts, which lets us talk to a plant about the whole line, not only one vessel.

How we want to work

• Projects first. We want to take part in real lining projects and trials, not only send price lists.
• Customization. Grade, shape, key bricks, tolerance and binder can be set to your drawing and steel grade.
• Evidence. We share trial plans and read residual bricks with you.
• Local partners. We welcome agents and distributors who want a supplier that can explain its product.

Our outlook

We are optimistic about refractory demand over the next few years. Türkiye has 62 million tons of capacity and made 38.1 million tons last year, the state program aims at $30 billion of supported investment by 2030, and every ton of steel is a ton of lining wear. We are also realistic: the latest monthly figure grew only 0.8%, so buyers will count costs closely. The plants that will do best are the ones that measure their lining life and ask better questions.

The show signage says “See you in 2028”. Until then, send us a question or a photo.

What the Numbers Do Not Tell You

• A show is not an order book. Attendance and exhibitor counts say a market is active. They do not say which products win.
• Exhibitor claims are exhibitor claims. The dry-vibration case and the mixer report above are company statements.
• The 2026 show totals are not final. We used opening-day reports and clearly marked them. The steel production figures are worldsteel’s and the association’s, and later months can be revised.
• Our four shifts are a reading. A plant with a different steel route can reach a different conclusion, and we would like to hear it.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): ANKIROS 2026 & Refractory Buying

Sources & Industry References

The facts in this review come from the following published reports. Our own judgements are marked as such in the text.

• Küresel Metalürji Sektörü ANKIROS 2026'da İstanbul’da Buluştu, Turk Haber
• ANKIROS 2026 İstanbul’da başladı, Haber Gündemim
• ANKIROS 2026 Türkiye Metalürji Sektörünü Zirveye Taşıyor, Patron Rehberi
• ANKIROS 2026 page, TÜDÖKSAD
• ANKIROS / ANNOFER / TURKCAST 2026, Expo in Turkey
• ANKIROS, the meeting point of the metallurgical industry, opened its doors (2024 edition), Steel Radar
• Foundry Magazine ANKIROS 2026, Foundry-Planet
• ANKIROS 2026 refractory mixing equipment, CO-NELE
• CBAM rollout, safeguard revisions curb Europe’s appetite for steel imports, Eurometal
• Küresel ham çelik üretimi eylülde azalırken Türkiye 9 ayda 29,8 milyon ton üretti, Haberler (worldsteel data via Anadolu Agency)
• Türkiye’nin çelik üretimi 9 ayda yüzde 6,1 arttı, dünya üretimi geriledi, Foreks
• World crude steel output down 0.2 percent in September 2026, SteelOrbis
• Küresel Metalürji Sektörü ANKIROS 2026'da İstanbul’da Buluştu, Kapsül Haber Ajansı
• Metalin Geleceği, İkinci Yaşam ve Yeni Teknolojiler ANKIROS 2026'da Buluşuyor, Fuar Dergisi
• ANKIROS official site