Iranian steelmakers have registered a significant rise in exports during the first two months of the current fiscal year (March 21-May 21).
A total of 1.41 million tons of semi-finished steel products were exported during the period to register a 33% increase compared with the same period of the previous year, latest data released by the Iranian Steel Producers Association show.
Billet and bloom had the lion’s share of semis exports with an aggregate of 900,000 tons, up 7.4% compared with the year before, while slab exports stood at 514,000 tons, up 125.4%.
Exports of finished steel increased by 40.3% to 501,000 tons during the same period.
Rebar accounted for the biggest share of finished steel exports from Iran during the period with 362,000 tons. The total volume of Iran’s rebar exports experienced a 33.1% increase compared with the corresponding period of last year.
Beam shipments weighed 25,000 tons during the period under review, up 108.3%.
About 20,000 tons of L-beam, T-beam and other types were also exported from Iran during the period, up 17.6%.
Hot-rolled coil exports hit 82,000 tons, registering a 148.5% rise while that of cold-rolled coil with 1,000 tons registered an 83.3% decline and that of coated coil with 10,000 tons, saw a 41.2% fall.
Iran exported 204,000 tons of direct-reduced iron during the period, up 204%.
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.
A total of 7.37 million tons of semi-finished steel products were exported from Iran in the last Iranian year (March 2022-23) 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%.
Imports
Finished steel imports stood at 165,000 tons during the same period, registering a 19.9% rise.
The imports mostly included HRC with 49,000 tons, down 29%; CRC with 64,000 tons, up 236.8% year-on-year; coated coil with 28,000, down 6.7%; beam with 1,400 tons, down 30%; L-beam, T-beam and other types with 6,000 tons, up 50% and rebar with 5,000 tons, down 16.7%.
A total of 200 tons of semi-finished steel products were imported during the period, up 0.2%. The imports included billet and bloom with 200 tons, up 0.2%.
DRI imports amounted to 200 tons during the period, up 0.2% year-on-year.
Iran did not have any slab imports in the two months ending May 21.
Finished steel imports stood at 1 million tons last year, registering a 29% rise.
The imports mostly included HRC with 330,000 tons, up 136%; CRC with 245,000 tons, down 7% compared with the year before; 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, unchanged. The 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.
Production
Iranian steelmakers produced a total of 6.31 million tons of semi-finished products during the period, 7.4% more than in the previous year’s corresponding period, ISPA announced earlier.
The production of billet and bloom stood at 3.85 million tons, registering a 12.9% year-on-year increase. Slab output stood at 2.46 million tons to register a 0.2% fall.
The output of finished steel increased by 3.6% to 3.93 million tons.
Long steel products grabbed the highest share of finished steel output with 2.18 million tons, registering a 7.8% rise.
The production of rebar stood at 1.76 million tons (up 6.3%), beams hit 260,000 tons (up 22.6%) and L-beam, T-beam and other types of beams amounted to 163,000 tons (up 3.8%).
Flat steel production reached 1.74 million tons (down 1.4%) while hot-rolled coil output had the biggest share of flat steel production with 1.69 million tons, marking a 0.2% decrease. It was followed by cold-rolled coil with 444,000 tons (up 7.5%) and coated coil with 294,000 tons (up 14%).
The output of direct reduced iron stood at 6.72 million tons during the period, up 2.8%.
Iranian steelmakers produced a total of 30.43 million tons of semi-finished products last year, 9% more than in the previous year.
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.
Rebar production 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%.
