Iranian steelmakers produced 11 million tons of steel products during the first quarter of the current Iranian year (March 20-June 21) to register a 9.7% year-on-year increase, the Iranian Steel Producers Association's latest report shows.
Semi-finished steel made up 6.63 million tons of the total output, up 5% year-on-year.
Billet and bloom made up 3.94 million tons of all semi-finished production while slab output hit 2.69 million tons to register a 17% rise and 8% decline respectively YOY.
As for finished steel, output increased 16% YOY to reach 5.27 million tons.
Flat steel products had the lion's share of finished steel production with 2.7 million tons, up 13% YOY. Hot-rolled coil comprised 2.28 million tons of the production in this category, registering a 9% growth YOY, followed by CRC with 650,000 tons (up 15% YOY) and coated coil with 428,000 tons (up 23% YOY).
This is while long steel products had a 2.56 million-ton share in the output of finished steel products in Q1, posting a 19% rise YOY. Rebar had the major share with 2.05 million tons (up 21% YOY), followed by beams with 301,000 tons (up 22% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 203,000 tons (down 1% YOY).
Direct-reduced iron production stood at 7.27 million tons during the three-month period, indicating a 10% rise YOY.
World's 10th Biggest Steelmaker
Iran’s crude steel output stood at 24.52 million tons in 2018, according to World Steel Association, up 17.7% YOY, placing the country at 10th spot among world steel producers.
Notably, the country was the second biggest producer of direct reduced iron (DRI) with 25.54 million tons of output in 2018.
India, Iran's primary rival in DRI output, increased its 2018 production by 2.9% YOY to 30.36 million tons.
Worldsteel's latest report showed Iranian steel mills produced 12.78 million tons of crude steel during the first half of 2019, up 5.6% compared with the corresponding period of 2018.
Iran’s June output grew 6.1% year-on-year to hit 2.16 million tons, according to the Brussels-based international trade body for the iron and steel industry.
Its world ranking remains unchanged compared to the previous monthly report at the 10th spot. It is placed between Brazil (ninth) with 16.68 million tons and Italy (11th) with 12.56 million tons, the new report shows.
The world’s 64 steelmakers produced a total of 924.99 million tons of steel over the six months, up 4.9% YOY.
Global steel output stood at 159.28 million tons in June, indicating a 4.8% increase YOY.
China was the world’s largest crude steel producer with 492.16 million tons of steel output, up 9.9% YOY. China was followed by India with 56.95 million tons, Japan with 51.08 million tons, the United States with 44.34 million tons, South Korea with 36.89 million tons, Russia with 35.75 million tons, Germany with 20.71 million tons and Turkey with 16.99 million tons.
As for DRI, Iran was the second biggest producer in the world with 14.17 million tons of production during the six months under review to register a 15.2% year-on-year growth.
The country’s June DRI output grew 16.3% year-on-year to hit 2.39 million tons.
Global direct-reduced iron output increased 6.3% YOY to 44.61 million tons during the six months to June 30. It stood at 7.44 million tons in June to register a 9.1% growth YOY. Production for 2018 grew 11.6% to 84.3 million tons.
India, Iran's primary DRI rival, increased its six-month production by 6% YOY to 16.71 million tons.
The largest decrease was in Argentina, where output decreased 33.3% YOY to 591,000 tons.
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 34 million tons of the capacity target.
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.
According to Chairman of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Khodadad Gharibpour, Iranian steel industry is an export-oriented one such that it exports more than 40% of its steel output.
