Iran’s Mobarakeh Steel Company will increase production by more than 25% next year to meet growing domestic demand after the easing of international sanctions on the Persian Gulf country’s economy.
“Steel output will increase by 2 million tons next year from 7.5 million tons in 2016,” Bahram Sobhani, managing director of MSC, said in an interview with Bloomberg in Dubai last week.
Sobhani said exports will be unchanged at 1.5 million tons as the higher production will all go to meet domestic demand.
“Everything is booming in Iran. Day by day, I see the demand is going up,” he said.
Faster economic growth means more steel will be needed to make everything from cars to home appliances and buildings.
“Iran’s per capita steel consumption could grow to exceed 300 kilograms in the next few years from about 235 kilograms today,” Sobhani said.
“The country’s steel demand will be about 19 million tons this year and the government is aiming for production capacity to increase to 55 million tons by 2025.”
Together with its subsidiaries, MSC is Iran’s largest steelmaker and flat steel producer. The company accounts for approximately 50% of the country’s total steel output and covers around the same share of flat steel consumption.
According to the company’s reports, this figure accounted to 7.5 million tons in the previous Iranian year (ended March 19, 2016).
MSC produced around 5.5 million tons of flat products, with 70% of this volume allocated for the local market.
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