Shares of Turkish cement firms plummet

Turkish Cement firms have seen a sudden drop in share prices after Turkey's military begin operations in Syria and the EU shows no interest in financing the resettlement housebuilding for 2m Syrian refugees.

Last month Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced his plan to create the zone along the Syrian-Turkish border where the Ankara government envisages the creation of 140 villages and 10 towns to accommodate up to 1m people.

Earlier in the week, Turkish cement companies saw their share prices soar by 20 per cent with the expectation that Turkey would create a buffer 'safe' zone inside Syria, and build homes there for up to two-three million of the 4m Syrian refugees currently living in Turkey.

The project was estimated to need a budget of US$26m. However, any hope that these funds would come from the EU took a severe knock yesterday, when EU Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, said: "If the plan [the military incursion] involves the creation of a so-called safe zone, don't expect the EU to pay for any of it."

Accordingly, over night, shares in Adana Cimento declined 6.4 per cent, Afyon Cimento’s share price dropped 3.5 per cent and Konya Cimento’s share price fell 4.4 per cent. Bolu Cimento and Aslan Cimento saw their shares decline three per cent and four per cent, respectively. The decline in Mardin Cimento shares was a limited 0.19 per cent, said Intellinews.