Iranian steelmakers produced 3.85 million tons of semi-finished and finished steel products in the first month of the current Iranian year (March 20-April 19) to register a 2.21% year-on-year decrease.
According to the Iranian Steel Producers Association's latest report, semi-finished steel made up 2.32 million tons of the total output, up 2% YOY.
Billet and bloom made up 1.28 million tons of semi-finished production while slab output hit 1.03 million tons to register a 4% decline and 12% rise respectively YOY.
As for finished steel, the output decreased 8% YOY to 1.53 million tons.
Flat steel products had the lion's share of finished steel production with 874,000 tons, down 3% YOY. HRC made up 786,000 tons of the production in this category, remaining unchanged YOY, followed by CRC with 197,000 tons (down 5% YOY) and coated coil with 73,000 tons (down 47% YOY).
Long steel products had a 660,000-ton share in the output of finished steel products, posting a 13% decline YOY. Rebar had a major share here with 520,000 tons (down 12% YOY), followed by beams with 85,000 tons (down 22% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 55,000 tons (down 13% YOY).
Direct-reduced iron production stood at 2.62 million tons during the one-month period, indicating a 3% rise YOY.
MSC in Top Spot
With an output of 1.63 million tons, Mobarakeh Steel Company had the largest share of steel production in Iran during the first month of the current Iranian year.
The company produced 737,338 tons of finished steel during the month, posting a 3% decline compared with last year's corresponding period.
In addition, 900,553 tons of semi-finished products were produced by MSC, up 9% 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 179,201 tons (down 1% YOY), Oxin Steel Company with 77,715 tons (up 23% YOY), Ahvaz Rolling and Pipe Manufacturing Company with 28,000 tons (up 180% YOY), IASCO with 22,785 tons—22,721 tons of rebar (up 6% YOY) and 64 tons of “other products”, Azarbaijan Steel Company with 15,513 tons (down 33% YOY), Khorasan Steel Company with 14,504 tons (down 75% YOY), Bonab Steel Company with 10,478 tons, INSIG with 17,991 tons—8,436 tons of rebar (up 48% YOY), 8,696 tons of beams (up 285% YOY) and 859 tons of pipes (up 25% YOY), and Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Automotive Sheet Company with 6,330 tons (down 71% YOY).
Data for semis production showed MSC was followed by KSC with 345,385 tons (up 6% YOY), ESCO with 171,776 tons (down 15% YOY), South Kaveh Steel Company with 100,516 tons (down 1% YOY), Chadormalu Steel Company with 88,910 tons (up 1% YOY), Arfa Iron and Steel Company with 60,190 tons (down 22% YOY), Bardsir Steel Complex with 49,371 tons (up 258% YOY), Iran Alloy Steel Company with 44,960 tons (up 14% YOY), Khorasan Steel Company with 20,380 tons (down 79% YOY), Bonab Steel Company with 14,681 tons and INSIG with 1,232 tons.
World's Ninth Biggest Steelmaker
The latest report released by the World Steel Association shows Iran is currently the world’s ninth biggest crude steel producer.
According to the Brussels-based international trade body for the iron and steel industry, Iranian steel mills produced about 8.48 million tons of crude steel during January-March 2020, which indicates a 42.3% rise compared with the corresponding period of 2019.
The country is placed between Turkey (eighth) with 8.97 million tons of production and Brazil (10th) with 7.88 million tons, the new report shows.
The world’s 64 steelmakers produced 443.4 million tons of steel over the three-month period, down 1.3% YOY.
Global steel output stood at 146.94 million tons in March, indicating a 6.1% decrease YOY.
China was the world’s largest crude steel producer with 234.45 million tons of steel output, up 1.2% YOY.
China was followed by India with 27.5 million tons, Japan with 24.36 million tons, the United States with 21.94 million tons, Russia with 17.9 million tons, South Korea with 16.93 million tons and Germany with 9.47 million tons.
Iran’s crude steel output stood at 31.9 million tons in 2019, according to Worldsteel, up 30.1% 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 aims to become the world’s sixth largest steel producer as per the 20-Year Vision Plan, which targets annual production capacity expansion to 55 million tons and 20-25 million tons of exports per year by 2025. Iranian steel mills have so far realized more than 35 million tons of the capacity target.
An IMIDRO report on development of under-construction steel production units indicated a total of 19.1 million tons will be added to Iran’s annual steel production capacity by the time the development of all these units is complete in the fiscal 2023-24.
The addition of 19.1 million tons by the time the under-construction projects come on stream to the current capacity means the total output capacity will reach 54.1 by March 2024—only 900,000 short of the target, for reaching which Iranian steelmakers will have one further year.
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.
