Iranian steelmakers produced a total of 20.61 million tons of semi-finished and finished steel products during the first five months of the current fiscal year (March 20-Aug. 21) to register a 6.88% year-on-year increase.
According to the Iranian Steel Producers Association’s latest report, semi-finished steel accounted for 11.81 million tons of the total output, up 10% YOY.
Billet and bloom made up 7.07 million tons of semi-finished production while slab output hit 4.74 million tons to register a 12% and 7% rise respectively YOY.
The output of finished steel increased by 3% YOY to 8.79 million tons.
Long steel products had a 4.61 million-ton share in the output of finished steel products, posting a 13% growth YOY. Rebar had a major share with 3.77 million tons (up 15% YOY), followed by beams with 509,000 tons (up 14% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 332,000 tons (down 1% YOY).
Flat steel products had a 4.18 million tons in the output of finished steel products, down 6% YOY. Hot-rolled coil made up 3.8 million tons of the production in this category, showing a 2% rise compared with the similar period of last year, followed by cold-rolled coil with 1.13 tons that also registered a 5% rise YOY and coated coil with 619,000 tons (down 14% YOY).
MSC Retains Top Spot
With an output of 7.58 million tons, Mobarakeh Steel Company had the largest share of steel production in Iran during the five months under review.
According to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization’s latest report, the steel mill produced 3.49 million tons of finished products during the period and registered a 4% decline compared with last year’s corresponding period.
Close to 4.09 million tons of semi-finished products were produced by MSC, up 5% year-on-year. Its total output over the month ending Aug. 21 neared 1.4 million tons with 689,794 tons of finished steel, down 5% YOY and 707,367 tons of semi-finished steel, down 10% compared with the corresponding period of last year.
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 with 949,651 tons (without a YOY change), Khouzestan Oxin Steel Company with 378,776 tons (up 6% YOY), Khorasan Steel Company with 208,567 tons (down 23% YOY), Ahvaz Steel Company with 158,000 tons (up 86% YOY), Bonab Steel Company with 156,820 tons (up 3% YOY), Azarbaijan Steel Company with 146,976 tons (up 5% YOY) and Sirjan Jahan Steel Company with 127,187 tons (up 313% YOY) during the five months under review.
In terms of semis, MSC was followed by KSC with over 1.65 million tons (up 3% YOY), Esfahan Steel Company with 968,444 tons (down 3% YOY), South Kaveh Steel Company with 433,739 tons (down 12% YOY), Khorasan Steel Company with 395,206 tons (down 15% YOY), Chadormalu Steel Company with 393,514 tons (down 4% YOY) and Arfa Steel Company with 339,182 tons (down 8% YOY).
The above-mentioned steelmakers, considered heavyweight manufacturers in Iran, produced over 15.24 million tons of steel (semis and finished) during the five months.
A total of 6 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 to register a 2% YOY rise.
The heavyweights produced 9.24 million tons of semi-finished steel, including ingot, bloom and billet, during the period to witness a 7% rise YOY.
Their total output reached 2.96 million tons during the month ending Aug. 21. They rolled out 1.21 million tons of finished steel (up 4% YOY) and 1.76 million tons of semis (up 2% YOY) during the month.
World’s 10th Biggest Steelmaker
Iran is currently the world’s 10th biggest crude steel producer.
According to the latest report by the World Steel Association, Iranian steel mills produced a total of 16.23 million tons of crude steel during the seven months to July 31 to register a 10.8% rise compared with the corresponding period of 2019.
The country's July output stood at 2.34 million tons to witness a year-on-year growth of 14.4%, according to the Brussels-based international trade body for the iron and steel industry.
The country is placed between Brazil (ninth) with 17.07 million tons of production in the seven-month period and Vietnam (11th) with 13.06 million tons.
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.
Capacity Expansion Plans
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.
The country’s current steel production capacity stands at 35 million tons per year. Iran’s crude steel output stood at 31.9 million tons in 2019, according to Worldsteel, up 30.1% YOY.
According to a recent report by Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization on under-construction steel production units, 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 aggregate output capacity will reach 54.1 million tons by March 2024, only 900,000 tons short of the target, for reaching which Iranian steelmakers will have one more year.
