Exports of finished and semi-finished steel products registered solid growth during the first two months of the current fiscal year (started March 20, 2021), latest data released by the Iranian Steel Producers Association show.
A total of 1.44 million tons of finished and semi-finished steel products were exported from Iran during the period, considerably higher than the previous year’s similar period.
Semi-finished steel made up 967,000 tons of the total export volume, up 134% year-on-year.
Billet and bloom had the lion’s share of semis exports with an aggregate of 652,000 tons, 90% higher than the previous corresponding period.
Exports of finished steel products jumped by 93% to 477,000 tons during the two months under review.
Rebar accounted for the largest portion of finished steel products exported from Iran during the period, with 373,000 tons. The total volume of Iran’s rebar exports experienced a 98% growth compared with the same period of last year.
Hot-rolled coil amounted to 31,000 tons, registering a 182% growth compared with the year before.
Beam exports amounted to 25,000 tons during the period under review, up 56% YOY.
Nearly 39,000 tons of L-beam, T-beam and other types were also exported from Iran during the said period, recording a 117% rise YOY.
Coated coil with 9,000 tons, up 50% YOY, was the other finished steel products exported from Iran.
Exports of direct-reduced iron increased by 500% YOY to 120 tons, ISPA figures show.
Major Steelmakers
According to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, Mobarakeh Steel Company, the largest steel company in Iran, accounted for 88,000 tons of monthly exports and 106,000 tons of total exports during the first two months of the current fiscal year, up 1,123% and 578% respectively.
A comparison of the performance of major steel producers during the first two months of the current fiscal year shows that Khouzestan Steel Company is still Iran’s leading exporter of steel products.
Khouzestan Steel Company exported 341,187 tons of slab, bloom and billet during the first two months of the current fiscal year (March 21-May 21), up 136%.
KSC’s exports during the second month of the year stood at 191,800 tons, up 345% year-on-year. It exported a record high of 2.76 million tons in 2017-18, marking a growth of 34% YOY.
Esfahan Steel Company’s exports totaled 213,800 tons during the two months under review to register an 112% growth YOY.
The company’s exports during the second month grew by 52% to 110,000 tons.
Kavir Steel Company followed with more than 98,000 tons of exports during the two months, up 66%. Kavir’s monthly exports amounted to 43,400 tons up 17% YOY.
South Kaveh Steel Company took the next spot with 97,000 tons of billet exports to post a 39% YOY growth. The mill recorded a 123% increase in monthly exports, with 67,000 tons.
Hormozgan Steel Company came after, exporting 71,000 tons, up 128%. HSC had no exports in the first month of the current fiscal year.
Mobarakeh registered the highest growth in exports during the second month.
Sirjan Steel Company exported 60,000 tons during the period.
The ISPA report shows steel imports stood at 115,000 tons, up 32% YOY.
Iran imported no semi-finished steel products during the period.
The imports mostly included HRC with 31,000 tons, up 15%; CRC with 42,000 tons, up 68%; coated coil with 33,000, up 3%; L-beam, T-beam and other types with 3,000 tons, up 200%; and rebar with 5,000 tons, up 150%.
Production Data
Iranian steelmakers produced a total of 9.18 million tons of semi-finished and finished steel products during the first two months of the current fiscal year.
According to ISPA, semis accounted for 5.6 million tons of the total output, up 16% YOY.
Billet and bloom made up 3.3 million tons of semi-finished production as slab output reached 2.26 million tons to register a 17% and 13% YOY rise, respectively.
The output of finished steel increased by 10% YOY to 3.57 million tons.
Long steel products accounted for 1.94 million tons of finished steel products’ total output, posting a 16% growth YOY.
Rebar production stood at 1.5 million tons (up 18% YOY). It was followed by beams with 205,000 tons (up 2% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 153,000 tons (up 25% YOY).
The production of flat steel picked up during the month under review, 2% year-on-year to 1.63 million tons.
Hot-rolled coil made up 1.6 tons, showing a 2% rise compared with the similar period of last year, followed by cold-rolled coil with 431,000 tons, unchanged compared with the last year and coated coil with 265,000 tons (up 26%).
Iran's output of direct reduced iron also grew by 1% to 5.59 million tons, ISPA data show.
Iranian steel mills produced a total of 10 million tons of crude steel in the first four months of 2021, which indicate a 9.6% rise compared with 2020.
As per the latest report released by the World Steel Association, Iran's April output amounted to 2.5 million tons, up 6.4%.
The report ranks Iran the world’s 10th biggest crude steel producer.
China was the world’s largest crude steel producer in the four-month period with 374.6 million tons of steel output, up 15.8% YOY.
It was followed by India with 38.2 million tons (up 26.9%), Japan with 31.5 million tons (up 2.7%), the United States with 27.3 million tons (up 2.8%), Russia with 25.5 million tons (up 7.1%), South Korea with 23.4 million tons (up 6.5%), Germany with 13.5 million tons (up 9%) and Turkey with 13.1 million tons (up 16.9%).
Iran is placed after Brazil (ninth) with 11.8 million tons, 15.9% higher than the corresponding period of 2020.
The world’s 64 steelmakers produced a total of 662.8 million tons of steel over the four months, up 13.7% YOY. States located in Asia and Oceania collectively produced 487.8 million tons of the total
The Middle East produced 14.1 million tons of crude steel in the four months under review, posting an increase of 18.2% compared with the same period of last year.
Global steel output experienced a 23.3% growth in April to 169.5 million tons.
A total of 9.68 million tons of DRI, also known as sponge iron, were produced in Iran during the first four months of 2021 (January-April) to register a 3.3% growth compared with the corresponding period of 2020.
The country was the second biggest DRI producer in the world during the period under review, after its primary rival, India, which produced a total of 12.13 million tons (up 27.7% year over year), according to the Brussels-based international trade body for the iron and steel industry.
The world’s total DRI output in the first four months of 2021 stood at 30.43 million tons to witness a 13.6% growth YOY.
Other major DRI producers in the world were Saudi Arabia with 2.05 million tons (up 18% YOY), Mexico with 1.9 million tons (up 15% YOY), Egypt with 1.7 tons (down 3.6% YOY), the UAE with 1.3 million tons (up 12.8% YOY), Canada with 595,000 tons (up 21.7% YOY), Libya with 403,000 tons (up 47% YOY), Argentina with 261,000 tons (up 10% YOY), Qatar with 241,000 tons (down 43% YOY), Venezuela with 77,000 tons (down 40% YOY) and South Africa with 65,000 tons (up 81% YOY).
Mobarakeh Steel Company, located in Isfahan Province, is also Iran's biggest producer of sponge iron. MSC is the biggest steel producer in Iran and the wider Middle East and North Africa region.
Also known as sponge iron, DRI is produced from direct reduction of iron ore in the form of lumps, pellets or fines by a reducing gas. It can be processed to create wrought iron.
