TEHRAN- Iran produced 10.882 million tons of crude steel in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-August 22), according to the data released by Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry.

The country’s five-month crude steel output indicates a 6.8-percent drop as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

Iran is planning to produce 32 million tons of steel in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 2022) to register a 27.7-percent rise compared to the figure for the previous year.

Based on the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry data, Iranian steel companies managed to produce 28.374 million tons of steel in the previous Iranian calendar year.

According to the ministry’s programs for the current year, the production of 23 million tons of steel products has been also put on the agenda, while last year 25 million tons of such products were manufactured.

Sponge iron production is expected to reach 33 million tons in the current year to register a 2.5 million tons rise compared to the previous year’s 30.5 million tons.

The Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry’s programs for the current year, which is called the year of “Production, Support and Eliminating Obstacles”, have been classified in seven main axes under which 40 plans have been defined.  

Boosting domestic production, managing imports and developing the export of non-oil commodities, developing mines and mineral industries with special emphasis on the mining roadmap, developing technology and knowledge-based products, managing market and organizing trade logistics, improving the country's business environment, and eliminating barriers ahead of the production process, as well as providing financial resources and developing investment are some of the ministry’s major plans for the current year.

Iran is currently the tenth largest steelmaker in the world and is estimated to climb to seventh place by the Iranian calendar year 1404 (March 2025).

According to the latest report released by the World Steel Association (WSA), production of crude steel in Iran reached 17.8 million tons during January-July, 2021 to register a 9.9 percent growth year on year.

The WSA’s report put the crude steel output by the world’s top 64 producers at 1.165 billion tons in the mentioned time span, registering an increase of 12.4 percent.

Iran’s monthly crude steel output stood at 2.6 million tons in July 2021, rising nine percent compared to the figure for July 2020.

The Islamic Republic maintained its place as the world’s 10th biggest steel producer during the mentioned time span, the report said.

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

According to the Iranian Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry, the production capacity of the country's steel chain increased from 123 million tons in the Iranian calendar year 1392 (ended in March 2014) to 230 million tons in the previous year (ended on March 20).

MA/MA