Iranian steel mills produced 18.6 million tons of crude steel during the first eight months of 2020 (January to August), which indicates an 11.3% rise compared with the 2019 corresponding period, the latest report released by the World Steel Association shows.
The country's August output increased 14.6% year-on-year to hit 2.4 million tons, according to the Brussels-based international trade body for the iron and steel industry.
Iran’s world ranking as crude steel producer remains unchanged compared to Worldsteel's previous monthly report that placed the country at 10th place.
The country is placed between Brazil (ninth) with 19.77 million tons of production and Vietnam (11th) with 15.39 million tons, the new report shows.
The world’s 64 steelmakers produced 1.18 billion tons of steel over the eight-month period, down 4.2% YOY.
Global steel output stood at 156.24 million tons in August, indicating a 0.6% increase YOY.
China was the world’s largest crude steel producer with 688.88 million tons of steel output, up 3.7% YOY. The country was followed by India with 61.11 million tons, Japan with 54.72 million tons, the United States with 47.41 million tons, Russia with 46.6 million tons, South Korea with 43.81 million tons and Germany with 22.71 million tons.
Iran’s crude steel output stood at 31.9 million tons in 2019, according to Worldsteel, up 30.1% YOY.
Crude steel is defined as steel in its first solid (or usable) form: ingots and semi-finished products (billets, blooms and slabs). This is not to be confused with liquid steel, which is steel poured.
A recent IMIDRO report on under-construction steel production units indicated a total of 19.1 million tons will be added to Iran’s annual steel production capacity by the time all these units become operational in the fiscal 2023-24.
The addition of 19.1 million tons to the current capacity when under-construction projects come on stream means the aggregate output capacity will reach 54.1 by March 2024, only 900,000 short of the target, for which Iranian steelmakers will have one further year.
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.
Latest ISPA Reports
According to the Iranian Steel Producers Association’s latest report, Iranian steelmakers produced 20.61 million tons of semi-finished and finished steel products during the first five months of the current fiscal year (March 20-Aug. 21) to register a 6.88% year-on-year increase.
Semi-finished steel accounted for 11.81 million tons of the total output, up 10% YOY.
Billet and bloom made up 7.07 million tons of semi-finished production while slab output hit 4.74 million tons to register a 12% and 7% rise respectively YOY.
The output of finished steel increased by 3% YOY to 8.79 million tons.
Long steel products had a 4.61 million-ton share in the output of finished steel products, posting a 13% growth YOY. Rebar had a major share with 3.77 million tons (up 15% YOY), followed by beams with 509,000 tons (up 14% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 332,000 tons (down 1% YOY).
Flat steel products had a 4.18 million-ton share in the output of finished steel products, down 6% YOY. Hot-rolled coil made up 3.8 million tons of the production in this category, showing a 2% rise compared with the similar period of last year, followed by cold-rolled coil with 1.13 tons that also registered a 5% rise YOY and coated coil with 619,000 tons (down 14% YOY).
More than 2.98 million tons of finished and semi-finished steel products were exported from Iran during the five months to Aug. 21, registering a 28.15% decrease compared with the similar period of last year, according to ISPA's latest report.
Semi-finished steel made up 2.21 million tons or 74.0% of the total export volume to register an 18% year-on-year drop.
Billet and bloom had the lion’s share of semis exports with an aggregate of 1.76 million tons to mark a 7% rise YOY. Slab followed with 452,000 tons, down 56% YOY.
Exports of finished steel products decreased by 49% YOY to reach 744,000 tons.
In addition, the new ISPA report also shows that the imports of finished and semi-finished steel products registered an 81.28% rise YOY during the period under review.
Imports of finished steel products stood at 336,000 tons in the five months to register an 81% YOY increase.
The imports mostly included flat steel products with 304,000 tons, up 116% YOY. Hot-rolled coil was the top product in this category with 128,000 tons, up 357% YOY, followed by cold-rolled coil with 90,000 tons, up 96% YOY, and coated coil with 86,000 tons, up 28% YOY.
Imports of long steel products stood at 32,000 tons, indicating a 29% decline YOY. L-beam, T-beam and other types accounted for 15,000 tons of imports (down 35% YOY), followed by rebars with 12,000 tons, down 29% YOY and beams with 5,000 tons (with no change YOY).
Semi-finished steels’ share of imports was restricted to a meager amount of 3,000 tons (up 200% YOY). Of the total figure, 2,000 tons were billet and bloom (up 100% YOY) and 1,000 tons were slab, posting a 100% increase YOY.
Iran's apparent steel usage—defined as production plus imports, minus exports, sometimes also adjusted for changes in inventories—during the five months under review stood at 17.99 million tons, registering a 17.49% rise compared with last year's corresponding period.
The figure stood at 8.4 million tons for finished products, posting a 16% rise year-on-year, according to the Iranian Steel Producers Association.
Long steel products accounted for the lion’s share of finished steel consumption with 4.02 million tons, up 34% YOY.
Rebar grabbed the biggest share in this section with 3.27 million, up 39% YOY, followed by beams with 458,000 tons (up 21% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 290,000 tons (up 7% YOY).
Flat steel products accounted for 3.98 million tons of finished steel apparent usage, up 14% YOY.
Among flat steel products, hot-rolled coil had the biggest share of apparent usage with 3.84 million tons (up 10% YOY), followed by cold-rolled coil with 1.21 million tons (up 13% YOY) and coated coil with 679,000 tons (down 5% YOY).
The apparent usage of semis stood at 9.6 million tons, up 19% YOY. The index for billet and bloom together amounted to 5.31 million tons, up 13% YOY, and that of slab raised 26% YOY to 4.29 million tons.
DRI usage was up 15% to 12.71 million tons.
1.2m Tons Newly Added to Production Capacity
The second phase of South Kaveh Steel Company with a production capacity of 1.2 million tons of steel ingots was inaugurated on Saturday in a ceremony attended by First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri in Persian Gulf Special Economic Zone, located in the port city of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan Province, according to the company’s CEO.
“With the inauguration of this production line, in which Mostazafan Foundation has invested €311 million to date, the ingot production capacity of Kaveh Steel Company has doubled to reach 2.4 million tons per year,” Ali Dehaqin was quoted as saying by IRNA.
As such, said the official, Kaveh Steel Company will now have a 10% share in the country’s overall steel production.
Dehaqin noted that the project has created 800 and 6,400 direct and indirect jobs for the locals respectively.
The first phase of SKSCO with a 1.2 million-ton capacity per year was inaugurated in 2016.
PGSEZ is one of Iran’s most ideal locations for the development of steel industry. It presents many advantages for steel mills such as its strategic location near high seas, which not only reduces transportation costs and facilitates exports, but also helps meet the huge water requirements of the industry.
The first phase of SKSCO’s desalination plant was also completed alongside the first phase of the steel plant.
According to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, Iran’s steel production capacity is expected to reach 43.6 million tons by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2021), while the actual production is estimated to hit 31.1 million tons to utilize 71% of the nominal capacity.
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.
