Eight-month steel exports up 84%
Iranian steel producers exported 4.225 million tons of crude steel during March 21-November 21, which shows 84 percent of increase compared to corresponding figure of preceding year which was 2.294 million tons.
According to a report by Iran Steel Association on Sunday, the country also exported 940,000 tons of steel products during the eight-month period which marks a 35-percent drop compared to related figure of last year, 1.447 million tons, imidro.gov.ir reported.
Iran imported 1.491 million tons of steel products during the period, added the report.
Iranian steel mills produced 19.74 million tons of steel during January-november 2017, up 20.6 percent compared with last year’s corresponding period, the latest report released by World Steel Association (WSA) showed.
According to WSA, Iran’s steel output in November grew by 24.4 percent year-on-year to hit an estimated 1.95 million tons.
And yet again, Iran’s steel sector is on a fast track to growth, as it recorded the highest growth among all products exceeding one million tons per month for the 11-month period. Traditional rivals like Turkey and France were still lagging behind.
Considering all producers regardless of output, Iran is ranked eighth and 15th in terms of fastest 11-month and November year-on-year growth respectively.
Iran retained its ranking as the world’s 13th largest producer of steel for the 11-month period, following a one-rank drop in October.
The country is currently placed between Ukraine (12th) with 19.89 million tons and Mexico (14th) with 18.25 million tons.
Iran produced 18.4 million tons of direct-reduced iron during the 11 months, up 25.3 percent year-on-year, to remain the world’s largest producer of DRI. The November output was up 51.9 percent to 2 million tons.
DRI, also called sponge iron, is produced from the direct reduction of iron ore to iron by a reducing gas made from natural gas or coal. It is most commonly made into steel using electric arc furnaces. About 70-75 percent of Iranian mills use electric arc furnaces.
The world’s 66 steelmakers produced 1.53 billion tons of steel during the 11 months, up 5.4 percent year-onyear.
Global steel output stood at 136.2 million tons in November, indicating a 3.7 percent increase year-on-year.
China remained the world’s largest producer in the 11-month period with 764.8 million tons of steel output. Chinese steel production hit 66.15 million tons in November, registering a 2.2 percent increase year-on-year.
This is a considerable drop compared to October’s 6.1 percent yearon-year output growth, owed mostly due to China’s aggressive environmental policies and capacity cuts. Industry observers indicate that the industrial giant’s December growth might very well hit negative territory.
Following China were Japan with 95.91 million tons, India with 92.47 million tons, the United States with 74.94 million tons, Russia with 66.45 million tons, South Korea with 64.47 million tons, Germany with 39.96 million tons, Turkey with 34.16 million tons, Brazil with 31.45 million tons, Italy with 22.25 million tons and Taiwan with 21.28 million tons.
Iran’s steel output stood at 17.89 million tons in 2016, according to WSA. The country aims to become the world’s sixth-largest steel producer as per the 20-year Vision Plan, which targets annual production of 55 million tons of steel and 20-25 million tons of exports per year by 2025.
Iranian steel mills have so far realized more than 60 percent of the capacity target.