Iranian steelmakers produced more than 39.46 million tons of semi-finished and finished steel products during the first 10 months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2019-Jan. 20) to register an 8.79% year-on-year increase.
According to the Iranian Steel Producers Association's latest report, semi-finished steel made up 22.87 million tons of the total output, up 11% YOY.
Billet and bloom made up 13.95 million tons of semi-finished production while slab output hit 8.91 million tons to register a 19% rise and a 1% decline respectively YOY.
As for finished steel, the output increased 6% YOY to 16.59 million tons.
Long steel products had the lion's share of finished steel production with 8.41 million tons, up 8% YOY. Rebar had a major share with 6.79 million tons (up 8% YOY), followed by beams with 941,000 tons (up 12% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 677,000 tons (up 11% YOY).
Flat steel products had an 8.17 million-ton share in the output of finished steel products, posting a 4% rise YOY.
HRC made up 6.92 million tons of the production in this category, registering a 5% growth YOY, followed by CRC with 2.17 million tons (up 4% YOY) and coated coil with 1.43 million tons (up 25% YOY).
Direct-reduced iron production stood at 23.68 million tons during the 10-month period, indicating an 8% rise YOY.
This is while pellet production amounted to 34.36 million tons, as concentrate output reached 39.34 million tons, indicating a 2% decline and a 3% rise respectively YOY.
The latest report released by the World Steel Association shows Iranian steelmakers saw the third highest growth in the world in 2019.
According to Worldsteel, 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%.
Iran's December output increased 40% year-on-year to hit 2.89 million tons, according to the Brussels-based international trade body for the iron and steel industry, to experience the second highest growth after Kazakhstan with 525%.
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.
The world’s 64 steelmakers produced a total of 1.84 billion tons of steel last year, up 3.5% YOY.
China was the world’s largest crude steel producer with 996.34 million tons of steel output, up 8.3% YOY. It was followed by India with 111.24 million tons, Japan with 99.28 million tons, the United States with 87.92 million tons, Russia with 71.57 million tons, South Korea with 71.42 million tons, Germany with 39.67 million tons and Turkey with 33.74 million tons.
Iran’s crude steel output stood at 24.52 million tons in 2018, according to Worldsteel, up 17.7% YOY.
Crude steel is defined as steel in its first solid (or usable) form: ingots and semi-finished products (billets, blooms and slabs). This is not to be confused with liquid steel, which is steel poured.
The latest Worldsteel report also shows global direct-reduced iron output increased 2.2% year-on-year to 90.06 million tons in 2019.
Global DRI output in December stood at 7.64 million tons to register a 2.5% decline YOY.
Iran was the second biggest producer in the world with 27.73 million tons of DRI production in 2019, registering a 7.7% year-on-year growth.
Iran’s December DRI output, however, went down 1.1% year-on-year to hit 2.5 million tons.
The country produced a total of 25.54 million tons of DRI in 2018, up 31.6% YOY.
India, Iran's primary rival in DRI output, increased its 12-month production by 7.7% YOY to 36.85 million tons.
The largest decrease was in Argentina, where output decreased 37.4% YOY to 1 million tons.
Apparent Usage
Iran's apparent steel usage–defined as production plus imports minus exports, sometimes also adjusted for changes in inventories–during the 10 months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2019-Jan. 20) stood at 17.05 million tons for semi-finished products, registering a 2% increase compared with last year's corresponding period.
It stood at 12.75 million for finished products, posting no year-on-year change, according to the Iranian Steel Producers Association.
Flat steel products accounted for the lion’s share of finished steel consumption with 6.55 million tons, down 1% YOY.
Among flat steel products, HRC had the biggest share of apparent usage with 6.52 million tons (up 3% YOY), followed by CRC with 2.18 million tons (down 6% YOY) and coated coil with 1.46 million tons (up 19% YOY).
Long steel products accounted for 6.19 million tons of finished steel apparent usage, remaining unchanged YOY.
Rebar grabbed the biggest share in this section with 4.9 million, down 3% YOY, followed by beams with 793,000 tons (up 21% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 493,000 tons (down 2% YOY).
As for semis, the apparent usage of "billet and bloom" together reached 9.86 million tons, up 7% YOY, while that of slab declined 4% YOY to 7.19 million tons.
DRI usage was up 6% to 22.8 million tons. This is while the apparent usage of pellets amounted to 31.95 million tons, as concentrate usage stood at 35.76 million tons, down by 3% and up by 3% respectively YOY.
