Apparent steel use in Iran increased by 14% in the fiscal 2022-23 (ended March 20) compared with the year before, latest data released by the Iranian Steel Producers Association show.
ASU is defined as production plus imports minus exports, sometimes also adjusted for changes in inventories. It stood at 19.4 million tons for finished products, registering a 14% increase compared with the previous year.
Long steel products accounted for the biggest share of finished steel consumption with 9.97 million tons, up 18%.
Rebar grabbed the biggest share in this category with 8.09 million tons, up 21%; followed by beams with 1.17 million tons, up 7%; and L-beam, T-beam and other types of beams with 718,000 tons, up 6%.
Flat steel products accounted for 9.09 million tons of finished steel apparent use, up 8%.
Among flat steel products, hot-rolled coil had the biggest share with 8.7 million tons (up 9%), followed by cold-rolled coil with 2.63 million tons (down 7%) and coated coil with 1.6 million tons (up 14%).
ASU stood at 23.06 million tons for semi-finished products, registering a 14% rise.
The apparent use for billet and bloom stood at 13.42 million tons, up 16%. For slab, it increased by 11% to 9.64 million tons.
Direct reduced iron consumption reached 30.86 million tons, up 14%.
According to ISPA, Iranian steelmakers produced a total of 30.43 million tons of semi-finished products during the period, 9% more than in the previous year.
The production of billet and bloom stood at 18.74 million tons, registering a 12% rise. Slab output stood at 11.69 million tons to mark a 4% rise.
The output of finished steel increased by 10% to 21.59 million tons.
Long steel products grabbed the highest share of finished steel output with 12.53 million tons, registering a 12% increase.
The production of rebar stood at 10.39 million tons (up 14%), beams hit 1.29 million tons (up 6%) and L-beam, T-beam and other types of beams amounted to 851,000 tons (up 2%).
Flat steel production reached 9.06 million tons (up 8%) while hot-rolled coil output had the biggest share of flat steel production with 8.73 million tons, marking a 5% rise. It was followed by cold-rolled coil with 2.41 million tons (down 7%) and coated coil with 1.49 tons (down 1%).
The output of direct reduced iron stood at 31.73 million tons during the period, up 5%.
DRI, also known as sponge iron, is produced from the direct reduction of iron ore in the form of lumps, pellets or fines by a reducing gas. It can be processed to create wrought iron.
Iran and India are the world’s biggest producers of DRI, also known as sponge iron.
Other Steel Products
A total of 47.06 million tons of iron ore concentrate were produced during the period under review, registering a 7% decline compared with the previous year, according to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization.
The pellet output of major steel mills reached 47.84 million tons last year, posting a decline of 6% compared with the year before.
The production of direct reduced iron stood at 29.51 million tons, up 5%.
ISPA’s data also show 7.37 million tons of semi-finished steel products were exported to register a 4% decrease compared with the previous year.
Billet and bloom had the lion’s share of semis exports with an aggregate of 5.32 million tons, up 4% compared with the year before.
Slab exports stood at 2.04 million tons, down 21%.
Exports of finished steel products declined by 6% during the same period to 3.19 million tons.
Rebar accounted for the biggest share of finished steel exports from Iran during the period with 2.42 million tons. The total volume of Iran’s rebar exports experienced a 3% decrease compared with the fiscal 2021-22.
Beam shipments weighed 136,000 tons during the period under review, down 6%.
About 174,000 tons of L-beam, T-beam and other types were also exported from Iran during the period, down 13%.
Hot-rolled coil exports hit 357,000 tons, registering an 18% decline while that of cold-rolled coil with 21,000 tons registered a 24% rise and that of coated coil with 83,000 tons saw a 28% fall.
Iran exported 864,000 tons of direct reduced iron during the year, down 18%.
On the import front, finished steel imports stood at 1 million tons during the period, registering a 29% rise.
The imports mostly included HRC with 330,000 tons, up 136% compared with the year before; CRC with 245,000 tons, down 7%; coated coil with 201,000, down 10%; beam with 16,000 tons, down 6% ; L-beam, T-beam and other types with 41,000 tons, up 8% and rebar with 121,000 tons, up 278%.
A total of 6,000 tons of semi-finished steel products were imported during the same period, which indicate no change. Imports included billet and bloom with 6,000 tons, up 200% and slab with 3 kilograms (0.003 tons), down 99.9%.
Iran did not have any DRI imports in the fiscal 2022-23.
