With a total of 102,373 tons of exports during the first month of the current fiscal year (March 20-April 19), Khouzestan Steel Company emerged as Iran's biggest steel exporter.
The mill experienced a year-on-year decline of 60% in exports during the month under review, latest data released by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization show.
Esfahan Steel Company (ESCO), located in Isfahan, was the second biggest exporter during the period, as it shipped 28,282 tons, down 13% compared with last year's corresponding period.
Mobarakeh Steel Company came third by exporting 8,422 tons, down 85% year-on-year.
The company is the largest steelmaker in the Middle East and North Africa region and one of the largest industrial complexes operating in Iran.
South Kaveh Steel Company exported 40,000 tons of billets, up 60% YOY. The company exported 10,000 tons of direct-reduced iron during the period.
Hormozgan Steel Company exported 31,566 tons of slabs, down 50% YOY.
Bonab Steel Company exported 949 tons of rebar during the month.
The above steelmakers, which are major Iranian producers, exported a total of 221,592 tons during the month under review to register a year-on-year decline of 49%.
The IMIDRO report will be followed by a more comprehensive one by the Iran Steel Producers Association, which also includes data for small-scale steel mills.
The heavyweight steelmakers exported 7.03 million tons of steel during the Iranian fiscal year that ended on March 19 to register a year-on-year growth of 27%.
With 1.83 million tons of exports over the year, Khouzestan Steel Company was also Iran's biggest steel exporter last year.
Among Top 10 World Producers
According to World Steel Association's latest data, Iran is currently the ninth biggest steel producer in the world by producing a total of about 8.48 million tons of crude steel during January-March, 2020, up 42.3% compared with the corresponding period of 2019.
Iranian steelmakers registered the third highest growth in the world in 2019.
According to the Brussels-based international trade body for iron and steel, about 31.9 million tons of crude steel were produced in Iran in 2019 to register a 30.1% rise compared with the year before.
The growth in production comes third after Libya with 53% and Vietnam with 43.2%.
The report shows Iran was the world’s 10th biggest crude steel producer in 2019.
The country is placed between Brazil (ninth) with 32.23 million tons of production and Italy (11th) with 23.24 million tons.
Iran was the second biggest producer in the world after India last year with 27.73 million tons of DRI production in 2019, registering a 7.7% year-on-year growth.
Expansion Plans
Iran is aggressively pursuing the target of becoming the world’s sixth largest steel producer as per the 20-Year Vision Plan, which targets an annual production capacity expansion to 55 million tons and 20-25 million tons of exports per year by 2025. Iranian steel mills have so far realized about 35 million tons of the capacity target.
The nominal steel production capacity of Iran currently stands at over 35 million tons per year.
The Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization's latest report on the completion of under-construction steel production units shows a total of 19.1 million tons will be added to Iran’s annual steel production capacity by the time all these units is are completed in the fiscal 2023-24.
The addition of 19.1 million tons when the under-construction projects come on stream to the current capacity means the aggregate output capacity will reach 54.1 million tons by March 2024—only 900,000 tons short of the target, which target Iranian steelmakers could reach within a year.
Sales Performance
Iranian steel mills sold over 254.35 trillion rials (about $1.5 billion) worth of steel products during the last Iranian fiscal that ended on March 19.
According to Reza Shahrestani, a member of Iran Steel Producers Association’s Board of Directors, the sales volume shows a 93% rise compared to the year before.
The steelmakers produced 47.42 million tons of semi-finished and finished steel products in the last Iranian year that ended on March 19, 2020, to register a 8.37% increase compared to the year before.
According to ISPA's latest report, semi-finished steel made up 27.24 million tons of the total output, up 10% year-on-year.
Billet and bloom made up 16.78 million tons of semi-finished production, indicating an 18% rise YOY while slab output hit 10.45 million tons, posting no significant change YOY.
As for finished steel, the output increased 6% YOY to 20.18 million tons.
Long steel products had the lion's share of finished steel production with 10.22 million tons, up 6% YOY.
Rebar had a major share here with 8.3 million tons (up 6% YOY), followed by beams with 1.12 million tons (up 8% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 799,000 tons (up 4% YOY).
Flat steel products had a 9.96 million-ton share in the output of finished steel products, posting a 5% rise YOY. HRC made up 8.23 million tons of the production in this category, registering a 4% growth YOY, followed by CRC with 2.62 million tons (up 4% YOY) and coated coil with 1.63 million tons (up 12% YOY).
Direct-reduced iron production stood at 27.9 million tons during the 12-month period, indicating an 6% rise YOY.
With 17.22 million tons of output, Mobarakeh Steel Company had the largest share of steel production in Iran in the last fiscal year.
The company produced 8.09 million tons of finished steel during the year, posting a 2% rise compared with last year's corresponding period.
In addition, 9.12 million tons of semi-finished products were produced by MSC, up 1% year-on-year, IMIDRO’s latest report shows.
