Iran exported 5.82 million tons of finished and semi-finished steel products during the nine months of the current fiscal year (March 21-Dec. 21) to register a 2.36% year-on-year growth.
According to the Iranian Steel Producers Association's latest report, semi-finished steel made up 3.67 million tons or more than 63.11% of the total export volume, down 20% YOY.
Billet and bloom had the lion’s share of semis exports with an aggregate of 2.29 million tons to mark an 11% YOY decline. Slab followed with 1.37 million tons, down 32% YOY.
Exports of finished steel products surged 100% YOY to reach 2.14 million tons.
Rebar was the main exported finished product with 1.13 million tons, registering a 185% jump YOY. It was followed by hot-rolled coil with 528,000 tons, up 20% YOY; beams with 196,000 tons, up 52% YOY; “other steel products” with 140,000 tons, up 150% YOY; coated coil with 125,000 tons, up 178% YOY; and cold-rolled coil with 27,000 tons, up 238% YOY.
The export of direct-reduced iron decreased 16% YOY to 432,000 tons during the nine-month period.
World Steel Association's latest data show global direct-reduced iron output increased 2.3% year-on-year to 6.69 million tons in November.
Production during the first 11 months of 2018 grew 10.9% year-on-year to 76.14 million tons.
Iran was the second biggest producer with 2.05 million tons of DRI production in November and 22.64 during the first 11 months of 2018.
India, Iran's primary rival in DRI output, increased its 10-month production by 2.9% YOY to 27.7 million tons.
The largest increase was in Argentina, where output increased 34.6% YOY to 1.46 million tons.
Iran was also ranked the world’s second biggest producer of DRI in 2017 with the production of 20.5 million tons and a share of over 28% in global DRI production.
Worldsteel ranked Iran as the world’s 11th biggest producer of steel in its latest report, placing it between Italy (10th) with 22.81 million tons and Taiwan (12th) with 21.08 million tons.
The world’s 64 steelmakers produced a total of 1.64 billion tons of steel over the 11 months, up 4.7% YOY.
Global steel output stood at 148.61 million tons in November, indicating a 5.8% increase YOY.
China was the world’s largest with 857.37 million tons of steel output, up 6.7% YOY. Chinese steel production hit 77.62 million tons in November to rise 10.8% YOY.
China was followed by India with 96.92 million tons, Japan with 95.86 million tons, the United States with 79.15 million tons, South Korea with 66.29 million tons, Russia with 65.81 million tons, Germany with 38.96 million tons and Turkey with 34.43 million tons.
Iran’s crude steel output stood at 21.23 million tons in 2017, according to Worldsteel, up 21.4% YOY.
Crude steel is defined as steel in its first solid (or usable) form: ingots, semi-finished products (billets, blooms and slabs). This is not to be confused with liquid steel, which is steel poured.
Iran surpassed its 8-million-ton export target in the last fiscal year (March 2017-18) by shipping 8.49 million tons of steel, up 53.4% YOY.
Iranian steelmakers have targeted 9.5 million tons of exports for the current Iranian year (March 2018-19) and 14 million tons by the end of the fiscal 2020-21.
Imports Down 55%
Imports of all steel products, except for billet and bloom, were down during the period compared with last year's corresponding period.
The ISPA report shows that steel imports stood at 757,000 tons during the nine months to Dec. 21, down 55.39% YOY.
Semis imports made up 27,000 tons of the total figure, down 29%. Billet and bloom imports went up by 24% to 26,000 tons, as slab witnessed a staggering 94% fall to reach a meager 1,000 tons.
Imports of finished steel dropped 56% YOY to 730,000 tons. The imports mostly included CRC with 245,000 tons, down 52%; coated coil with 206,000 tons, down 32%; HRC with 183,000 tons, down 74%; "other steel products" with 42,000 tons, down 31%; rebar with 33,000 tons, down 48%; and beams with 21,000 tons, down 16%.
12.81% Growth in Production
Iranian steelmakers produced a total of 34.63 million tons of products during the nine-month period to register a 12.81% growth compared with last year’s corresponding period.
Semi-finished steel made up 18.7 million tons of the total output, up 16% YOY.
Billet and bloom made up 10.47 million tons of all semi-finished production volume while slab output hit 8.23 million tons to register a 23% and 9% year-on-year rise respectively.
As for finished steel, output increased 9% YOY to reach 15.92 million tons.
Hot-rolled coil had the lion's share of finished steel production with 6.06 million tons, up 5% YOY.
It was followed by rebar with 5.65 million tons, up 23%; cold-rolled coil with 1.88 million tons, up 8%; coated coil with 1.04 million tons, down 8%; beams with 720,000 tons, down 6%; and "other steel products" with 560,000 tons, down 11%.
Iran’s direct-reduced iron production is registering a healthy growth. It stood at 19.82 million tons during the nine months, indicating a 20% rise YOY.
Semis Apparent Usage Increasing
According to ISPA, Iran's apparent steel usage—defined as production plus imports minus exports, sometimes also adjusted for changes in inventories—stood at 15.06 million tons for semis, growing 31%; and hit 14.51 million for finished products to drop 5% YOY.
Hot-rolled coil had the lion’s share of finished steel consumption as it reached 5.71 million tons, down 5% YOY. It was followed by rebar with 4.55 million tons, up 7% YOY; cold-rolled coil with 2.1 million tons, down 7% YOY; coated coil with 1.12 million tons, down 19% YOY; beams with 545,000 tons, down 18% YOY; and "other steel products" with 462,000 tons, down 27%.
As for semis, the consumption of billet and bloom grew 37% to 8.19 million tons, while that of slab rose 24% to 6.86 million tons.
DRI usage was up 21% for the period to 19.39 million tons.
Iran aims to become 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. The domestic steel mills have so far realized just over 30 million tons of the capacity target.
The country has been working to increase its iron ore processing capacity, including both DRI and hot-briquetted iron production to feed its steelmaking expansion target.
2 New Steel Projects Come on Stream
Two big steel plants, a direct reduction iron and a steel pelletizing plant, were officially inaugurated by Iranian First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri in the southeastern province of Kerman on Tuesday.
The two plants, built with more than half a billion dollars of investment, will add 1 million tons of DRI, also known as sponge iron, and 2.5 million tons of iron ore pellets to Iran’s burgeoning steel production.
The first plant commissioned on Tuesday was the Butia Pelletizing Plant near the city of Kerman, which has been producing pellets on a trial basis since April.
Jahangiri then opened a 1 million-ton DRI plant at Bardsir for the production of billets and blooms.
The construction of Bardsir Steel Plant at a cost of $357 million marked the application of localized technology in design, installation and commissioning of a 140-ton electric arc furnace as well as ladle furnace and a continuous casting machine.
