TEHRAN - Iran’s crude steel production increased by 13.4 percent in 2020 while the average global growth in this sector stood at -0.09 percent, according to the World Steel Association (WSA) latest report.

The country was ranked third among the world’s top steel producers in terms of production growth, after Uzbekistan and Moldova which both have small outputs compared to Iran, Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) reported.

Based on the report, Iran produced 29.03 million tons of the mentioned commodity during 2020 compared to the last year’s nearly 25.6 million tons.

Uzbekistan’s steel production grew by 42.6 percent, and Moldova’s output increased by 18.7 percent in 2020, followed by Iran with the production growth of 13.4 percent.

Meanwhile, WSA states that crude steel production in the world fell 0.09 percent to stand at 1.829 billion tons in 2020.

According to the World Steel Association, similar to the past two years, Iran stood at the 10th place among the world’s top steel producers in 2020, after countries like China, India, Japan, and Russia.

Iran produced 2.6 million tons of crude steel in December 2020, which was 19.2 percent higher than the figure for December 2019, the same report confirmed.

The average global production growth in the mentioned month was 5.8 percent.

As the world's top producer, China produced 1.052 billion tons of crude steel in 2020, up 5.2 percent compared to 2019. India and Japan ranked second and third in the world with production of 99.5 million and 83.1 million tons, respectively.

The production of South Korea, Japan, and India as the leaders of the industry, however, decreased by 6 percent, 16.2 percent, and 10.6 percent, respectively.

The Iranian Steel industry has been constantly developing over the past years against all the pressures and obstacles created by external factors like the U.S. sanctions and the coronavirus outbreak that has severely affected the performance of the world’s top producers.

The Islamic Republic had also outshined the world steel producers during the first 10 months of 2020, as based on the WSA previous report the country produced 23.8 million tons of the mentioned commodity during the January-October, 2020 period, 12.6 percent more than the figure in the same 10 months of 2019.

EF/MA