According to the latest report by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel), Iran produced more than 4 million metric tons of crude steel during the first quarter of 2015, registering a 9.6% growth in production compared to the similar period last year, Fooladnews reported.
The 360,000-ton increase in Iran's production comes as the global crude steel production during the same period declined by 1.8% compared to the first three months of 2014. The country produced 4.08 million tons of crude steel over the period, compared to 3.72 tons in the first quarter of 2014. However, the production in March hit 1.31 million tons, 1% down from the same month a year before.
The decline in global crude steel output is mainly attributed to the 1.7% decrease in China's steel production although India registered a 9.4% growth, producing 22.7 million tons by the end of March. Japan and South Korea also experienced negative growth of 3% and 6.5% respectively. Japan produced 26.7 million tons of crude steel during the three-month period while South Korea's output exceeded 16.5 million tons. The US, as the 3rd producer of the metal, also reduced steel output by 19.9% during the period.
According to the Short Range Outlook (SRO) released by the Worldsteel for 2015 and 2016, slow growth has been forecast for global steel demand. Based on the SRO, the global apparent steel use will increase by 0.5% to 1.54 billion tons per year in 2015 following growth of 0.6% in 2014. In 2016, it is forecast that the global demand will grow by 1.4% to reach 1.56 billion tons per annum.
