Iran's apparent steel usage—defined as production plus imports minus exports, sometimes also adjusted for changes in inventories—during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 20-Sept. 21) stood at 11.82 million tons for semi-finished products, registering a 19% increase compared with last year's corresponding period.
Apparent usage stood at 10.43 million tons for finished products, posting a 22% increase year-on-year, according to the Iranian Steel Producers Association.
Flat steel products accounted for the largest portion of finished steel consumption with 4.73 million tons, up 15% YOY.
Among flat steel products, hot-rolled coil had the biggest share of apparent usage with 4.58 million tons (up 10% YOY), followed by cold-rolled coil with 1.44 million tons (up 12% YOY) and coated coil with 845,000 tons (up 6% YOY).
Long steel products accounted for 4.83 million tons of finished steel apparent usage, up 36% YOY.
Rebar grabbed the biggest share in this section with 3.91 million, up 41% YOY, followed by beams with 564,000 tons (up 25% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 352,000 tons (up 7% YOY).
As for semis, the apparent usage of billet and bloom together amounted to 6.65 million tons, up 20% YOY. Usage of slab also increased by 19% to 5.17 million tons during the first half of the year.
DRI usage was up 13% to 15.38 million tons.
Iranian steelmakers produced a total of 25.39 million tons of semi-finished and finished steel products in H1 to register a 9.16% year-on-year increase.
According to the Iranian Steel Producers Association’s latest report, semis accounted for 14.39 million tons of the total output, up 10% YOY.
Billet and bloom made up 8.67 million tons of semi-finished production while slab output hit 5.7 million tons to register a 13% and 6% YOY rise respectively.
The output of finished steel increased by 8% YOY to 11 million tons.
Long steel products had a 5.56 million-ton share in the output of finished steel products, posting a 13% growth YOY.
Rebar production stood at 4.54 million tons (up 15% YOY). It was followed by beams with 626,000 tons (up 17% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 393,000 tons (down 4% YOY).
Production of flat steel picked up during the six-month period, increasing 3% year-on-year to 5.43 million tons.
Hot-rolled coil made up 4.5 million tons of the production in this category, showing a 4% rise compared with the similar period of last year, followed by cold-rolled coil with 1.368 tons to register a 5% YOY rise and coated coil with 766,000 tons (down 6%).
Heavyweight exporters collectively exported 2.38 million tons of semi-finished and finished steel products during the same period to register a 32% decline compared with the same period of last year, according to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization.
The IMIDRO report takes into account exports of major Iranian steel mills only. A more comprehensive report detailing exports of smaller scale exporters will be published by Iran Steel Producers Association later.
