TEHRAN- Iran exported 1.786 million tons of steel during the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-August 21), IRNA reported.

As reported, the monthly steel export stood at 507,320 tons in the fifth month of this year.

Iran’s steel production is expected to reach 30 million tons in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20), of which over 10 million tons will be exported.

The World Steel Association (WSA) has announced that Iran’s crude steel production climbed 30 percent in 2019 while the average global growth in this sector stood at 3.5 percent.

According to the global organization, Iran produced 31.9 million tons of crude steel in 2019, while the figure was 24 million tons in 2018.

The data and reports released by Iranian organizations also show that the country’s steel sector is still experiencing growth in output and export despite the U.S. sanctions.

In its outlook plan for the Iranian calendar year 1404 (2025-2026) Iran has envisaged production of 55 million tons of steel per annum, and to achieve this target the country requires to produce 160 million tons of iron ore concentrates. 

Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry has announced that production of iron ore concentrate in Iran reached 47.306 million tons in the previous Iranian calendar year, registering a four-percent rise compared to the preceding year.

The country has extracted 64.274 million tons of iron ore during the past year, according to the data released by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO).

In a bid to prevent the exports of unprocessed minerals, creating more value-added and meeting the requirements of domestic producers for the raw materials, Iran has levied a 25-percent duty on the exports of raw minerals (especially iron ore) since September 23, 2019.

Industry Ministry believes that the duty is going to encourage the production of more processed minerals such as pellets and concentrate instead of selling the raw minerals.

Iran’s export of steel products in the past Iranian calendar year rose 27 percent compared to its preceding year.

As reported, the country’s major steel producers managed to export about 7.33 million tons of the products in the previous year.

MA/MA