Esfahan Steel Company, also known as ESCO, topped the list of Iran’s steel exporters during the current fiscal year’s first five months (March 21-Aug. 22).
According to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, ESCO exported 471,902 tons of steel products during the period to register an 8% rise year-on-year.
The company’s exports during the month ending Aug. 22 hit 91,632 tons, registering a 6% rise.
Esfahan Steel Company is the first and largest manufacturer of constructional steel products in Iran, according to its website.
ESCO was followed by Khouzestan Steel Company with 436,817 tons of exports during five months, registering a 49% drop in shipments.
KSC's monthly exports stood at 5,080 tons, 95% less than in the corresponding period of last year.
Mobarakeh Steel Company came next with 200,511 tons of exports during five months, down 62%.
MSC exported 21,160 tons of steel products during the month under review, down 78%.
Oxin Steel Company registered the highest growth of 2,026% in export volume with 41,350 tons during the five-month period.
Bonab Steel Complex’s monthly exports registered the highest growth with 4,834 tons, up 368%.
Decline in Overall Exports
According to the Iranian Steel Producers Association, a total of 2.47 million tons of semi-finished steel products were exported from Iran during the five months, down 20% year-on-year.
Billet and bloom had the lion’s share of semis exports with an aggregate of 1.81 million tons, down 11% compared with the previous year’s corresponding period.
Slab exports amounted to 661,000 tons during the period, down 36%.
Exports of finished steel products declined by 17% to 1.16 million tons during the period.
Rebar accounted for the largest portion of finished steel products exported from Iran during the period, with 923,000 tons. The total volume of Iran’s rebar exports experienced a 9% decline compared with the same period of last year.
Beam exports amounted to 44,000 tons during the period under review, down 15%.
About 51,000 tons of L-beam, T-beam and other types were also exported from Iran during the period, down 29%.
Hot-rolled coil exports reached 103,000 tons, registering a 52% decline.
Export of cold-rolled coil with 9,000 tons registered a 200% growth year-on-year and coated coil with 36,000 tons, down 23%, was the other finished steel product exported from Iran.
Iran exported 213,000 tons of direct-reduced iron, down 57%.
Iran’s Steel Production
According to World Steel Association, Iran is the world’s 10th biggest producer of crude steel.
Worldsteel’s latest data show Iranian steel mills produced a total of 19.5 million tons of crude steel during January-August 2022 period, registering a 7.8% rise compared with the corresponding period in 2021.
The report also shows Iran's August output hit 2.1 million tons, registering a 64.7% year-on-year rise.
China was the world’s largest producer during the eight-month period with 693.2 million tons of steel output, down 5.7% YOY. It was followed by India with 83.5 million tons (up 7.1 %), Japan with 60.7 million tons (down 5.2%), the United States with 54.9 million tons (down 3.7%), Russia with 48.9 million tons (down 5.8%), South Korea with 46 million tons (down 3%), Germany with 25.4 million tons (down 4.8%) and Turkey with 24.4 million tons (down 4.5%).
Iran is placed after Brazil (ninth) with 23.1 million tons (down 4.5% YOY).
The world’s 64 steelmakers produced 1.25 billion tons of steel in the eight months under review, down 5.1% YOY. Countries located in Asia and Oceania collectively produced 925.1 million tons of the total.
The Middle East produced 28.5 million tons of crude steel during the period, posting an increase of 6.9% compared with the same period of last year.
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.
The World Steel Association is one of the largest and most dynamic industrial associations, with members in every major steel-producing country.
Worldsteel represents steel producers, national and regional steel industry associations and steel research institutes. Members represent around 85% of global steel production.
The 64 countries included in the Worldsteel report produce 85% of global steel, hitting 1.91 billion tons last year, up 3.6% YOY.
Countries located in Asia and Oceania collectively produced 1.38 billion tons of the total while the Middle East produced 41.2 million tons of crude steel, posting an increase of 1.2% compared with the same period of last year.
Iranian steel mills produced a total of 28.5 million tons of crude steel in 2021, registering a 1.8% decline compared with 2020.
“The installed capacity of crude steel production in Iran exceeds 40 million tons per year,” Deputy Industries Minister Vajiollah Jafari said last year.
“The annual production of steel ingots has exceeded 30 million tons,” the official was also quoted as saying by IRNA during the 8th Steelprice Conference held in October 2021.
“Installed capacity in the domestic steel industry is about 36 million tons of direct reduced iron, 66.7 million tons of pellets and 62.7 million tons of [iron ore] concentrate, but we are still facing problems in supplying raw materials,” he added.
Jafari noted that the target capacity of 55 million tons of steel ingots is expected to be achieved by the fiscal 2025-26.
MSC is the biggest steelmaker in Iran and the Middle East and North Africa region, accounting for about half of the country's steel production.
