More than 9.62 million tons of finished and semi-finished steel products were exported from Iran during the first 11 months of last Iranian year (March 21, 2019-Feb. 19, 2020) to register a 35.65% year-on-year increase, according to the Iranian Steel Producers Association's latest report.
Semi-finished steel made up 6.35 million tons (65.97%) of the total export volume, up 42% YOY.
Billet and bloom had the lion’s share of semis exports with an aggregate of 4.44 million tons to mark a 52% YOY rise. Slab followed with 1.91 million tons, up 23% YOY.
Exports of finished steel products increased by 25% YOY to reach 3.27 million tons.
Long steel products had the biggest share of finished products’ exports with a total of 2.49 million tons (76.27%) to register a 35% growth YOY.
Rebar was the main exported product in this category with 2.1 million tons, registering a 47% increase YOY, followed by L-beam, T-beam and other types with 211,000 tons (up 12% YOY) and beams with 181,000 (down 19% YOY).
Flat steel products had a 777,000-ton share in exports of finished steel products, up 2% YOY.
Hot-rolled coil grabbed the lion’s share in this category with 519,000 tons to register a decrease of 8% YOY.
Next was coated coil with 144,000 tons, down 9% YOY, and cold-rolled coil with 114,000 tons, up by 208% YOY.
Exports of direct-reduced iron increased by 86% YOY to 942,000 tons.
54.75% Decline in Imports
However, imports of all steel products suffered a considerable decline.
The ISPA report shows semi-finished and finished steel imports stood at 448,000 tons during the 11 months to Feb. 19, to register a 54.75% decline YOY.
Import of semi-finished products amounted to only 3,000 tons during the 11 months, down 89% YOY.
This is while imports of finished steel dropped 54% YOY to 445,000 tons.
The imports mostly included flat steel products with 392,000 tons, down 53% YOY. Coated coil was the top product in this category with 163,000 tons, down 29% YOY, followed by CRC with 133,000 tons, down 49% YOY, and HRC with 96,000 tons, down 73% YOY.
Imports of long steel products stood at 53,000 tons, indicating a 57% decline YOY. Rebar topped the list in this category with 32,000 tons, down 20% YOY, followed by L-beam, T-beam and other types with 12,000 tons (down 80% YOY) and beams with 9,000 tons (down 61% YOY).
Iran is currently the world's ninth biggest crude steel producer, according to the latest report released by the World Steel Association. Iranian steel mills produced a total of 5.6 million tons of crude steel during the first two months of 2020 (January-February), which indicates a 40.5% rise compared with the corresponding period of 2019.
The country's February output grew 34.3% year-on-year to hit 2.71 million tons, according to the Brussels-based international trade body for the iron and steel industry.
2% Rise in Apparent Steel Usage
Iran's apparent steel usage–defined as production plus imports minus exports, sometimes also adjusted for changes in inventories–during the same period under review stood at 18.58 million tons for semi-finished products, registering a 2% increase compared with the corresponding period of the year before.
It stood at 13.94 million for finished products, going down by 3% year-on-year, according to the ISPA.
Flat steel products accounted for the lion’s share of finished steel consumption with 7.13 million tons, down 3% YOY.
Among flat steel products, HRC had the biggest share of apparent usage with 7.09 million tons (unchanged YOY), followed by CRC with 2.41 million tons (down 6% YOY) and coated coil with 1.59 million tons (up 19% YOY).
Long steel products accounted for 6.8 million tons of finished steel apparent usage, down 3% YOY.
Rebar grabbed the biggest share in this category with 5.4 million, down 5% YOY, followed by beams with 864,000 tons (up 14% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 539,000 tons (up 3% YOY).
As for semis, apparent usage of billet and bloom together amounted to 10.9 million tons, up 8% YOY, while that of slab declined by 6% YOY to reach 7.68 million tons.
DRI usage was up 3% to 24.5 million tons.
