Iranian 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 the Iranian Steel Producers Association'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.
MSC Tops the Charts
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 to last year's corresponding period.
In addition, 9.12 million tons of semi-finished products were produced by MSC, up 1% year-on-year, the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization’s latest report shows.
Located in southwestern Isfahan, Mobarakeh Steel Company is the biggest steel producer in Iran and the Middle East and North Africa region.
In terms of finished steel production, MSC was followed by Esfahan Steel Company (ESCO) with 2.3 million tons (up 6% YOY), Oxin Steel Company with 776,002 tons (up 28% YOY), Khorasan Steel Company with 612,522 tons (up 8% YOY), Azarbaijan Steel Company with 367,163 tons (up 2% YOY), IASCO with 311,036 tons—276,740 tons of rebar (up 15% YOY) and 34,296 tons of “other products” (up 213% YOY), Bonab Steel Company with 224,650 tons—906 tons of beams, 222,103 tons of rebar (up 289% YOY) and 1,641 tons of “other products” (down 54% YOY), Ahvaz Rolling and Pipe Manufacturing Company with 245,000 tons (down 21% YOY), Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Automotive Sheet Company with 234,733 tons (up 6% YOY) and INSIG with 200,802 tons—140,203 tons of rebar (up 99% YOY), 50,779 tons of beams (up 152% YOY) and 9,820 tons of pipes (up 35% YOY).
MSC was followed in semis production by KSC with 3.68 million tons (down 3% YOY), ESCO with 2.41 million tons (up 7% YOY), South Kaveh Steel Company with 1.15 million tons (up 14% YOY), Khorasan Steel Company with 1.16 million tons (up 12% YOY), Chadormalu Steel Company with 1.02 million tons (up 16% YOY), Arfa Iron and Steel Company with 865,307 tons (up 1% YOY), Iran Alloy Steel Company with 491,283 tons (up 18% YOY), Bonab Steel Company with 268,755 tons (up 965%) and INSIG with 19,398 tons.
The above-mentioned steelmakers, considered heavyweight producers in Iran, registered an output of 33.6 million tons of steel (semis and finished) during the 12 months to March 19, 2020.
A total of 13.37 million tons of finished steel products, including hot- and cold-rolled coils, rebar, beams, pipes, wide and galvanized sheets were produced by these steel mills during the period under review to register a 6% YOY growth.
Their production of finished steel products stood at 1.07 million tons in the 12th Iranian month (Feb. 20-March 19, 2020), posting a 2% rise year-on-year.
They produced a total of 20.22 million tons of semi-finished steel, including ingot, bloom and billet (semi-finished products) during the 12 months, up 5% year-on-year.
As for semis output during the 12th Iranian month ending March 19, a total of 1.65 million tons of slab, bloom, billet and ingot were produced to register an 11% increase YOY.
World's Third Highest Growth in 2019
The World Steel Association's 2019 report showed Iranian steelmakers marked the third highest growth in the world.
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.
