TEHRAN- Exports of steel by ten major producers in Iran hit 4.049 million tons in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-October 22), up eight percent compared to the same period of time in the past year, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

“Industry ministry is planning to increase the exports of steel products to 12 million tons by the end of the current year [March 19, 2020],” according to deputy industry, mining and trade minister.

The value of the exports of such commodities is expected to reach $9 billion by the yearend, Jafar Sarqini has previously announced.

Iran plans to reach steel production of 55 million tons by the Iranian calendar year of 1404 (March 2025-March 2026), of which about 40 percent is planned to be exported.

Iranian industry, mining and trade minister said on Monday that the country holds a 62-percent share of the Middle East’s total crude steel production and it is planning to further increase this share.

Reza Rahmani said that Iran has reached a balanced steel production chain in which all stages of production including engineering, implementation, fabrication and operation are being executed by Iranian experts and with domestic knowledge and technology.

Iran's steel production has been growing well over the past few years and the country rose from 13th to 10th place in the list of the world’s top steel producers in World Steel Association (WSA)’s latest ranking, he said.

In late January, WSA announced that Iran ranked 10th among crude steel producers in the world in 2018 with 25 million tons of production.

Iran has pushed aside Italy, Taiwan and Ukraine to become the 10th biggest producer of crude steel in the world for the year 2018.

The WSA has put the global crude steel production for the year 2018 at 1.808 billion tons, which shows a 4.6 percent increase compared to 2017.

According to the report, Iran’s crude steel industry has remained in good shape despite the U.S. sanctions.

Iran’s share of global crude steel production was estimated at 1.38 percent for the year 2018.

MA/MA