Crude Steel Output Rises

Iran’s steelmaking capacity currently stands at 31 million tons per annum

Iranian steel mills produced 13.09 million tons of crude steel during the nine months of 2016, registering a 7% growth compared with last year’s corresponding period, according to a preliminary report by World Steel Association.

The WSA data show Iran’s crude steel output in September stood at over 1.4 million tons, which indicates a 9.9% rise year-on-year. The figure, however, indicated a 3.3% decline compared to the previous month (August).

The world’s 66 steelmaking countries suffered a downtrend as China struggles to cut down on its production capacity and the global steel demand has yet to recover from recession.

The January-September global output stood at 1.19 billion tons, down 1.1% year-on-year. September saw a 1.7% rise in steel production for steel mills around the world with a 133 million-ton aggregate output. This is while last month’s global output shrank 0.9% compared to August.

Iran maintained its position as the world’s 14th largest steelmaker in the world as its nine-month output placed it between Mexico (13th) with 13.9 million tons and Spain (15th) with 10.5 million tons of crude steel output.

Iran’s crude steel output stood at 16.1 million tons in 2015. The country aims to become the world’s sixth largest steel producer as per the 20-Year Vision Plan (2005-25), which projects an annual production of 55 million tons of crude steel per year by the deadline.

"Iranian steel mills have so far materialized 31 million tons of the annual steel manufacturing capacity target," Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said on Tuesday.

The global standing remained unchanged, as China stayed in the top spot with a 604.7 million-ton output, followed by Japan with 78.5 million tons, India with 71 million tons, the United States with 59.7 million tons, Russia with 62.7 million tons, South Korea with 60.9 million tons, Germany with 32 million tons, Turkey with 24.4 million tons, Brazil with 22.9 million tons, Ukraine with 18.2 million tons, Italy with 17.3 million tons and Taiwan with 16.2 million tons.

Speaking during the inauguration ceremony of Kish South Kaveh Steel Company in the southern Hormozgan Province, Nematzadeh said annual steel exports are expected to reach 6 million tons by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2017).

The first phase of SKSCO with a 1.2 million-ton capacity per year was inaugurated on Tuesday in the presence of First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri in the Persian Gulf Mining and Metal Industrial Special Economic Zone located in Hormozgan Province.

Realizing the goals set in the Vision Plan necessitates the annual export of 21 million tons of the projected production capacity, as domestic demand is expected to stand at a maximum of 34 million tons within the next 10 years.

Iran exported 3.4 million tons of steel worth over $1.4 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year (started March 20), indicating a 59% and 11% growth in volume and value respectively compared to last year’s similar period.

According to Nematzadeh, 19 steel projects are under construction across the country, the establishment of which will add 10 million tons of pellets, 5 million tons of sponge iron and 3 million tons of crude steelmaking capacity to the steelmaking chain next year.