TEHRAN-Iran has maintained its place as the world’s 10th biggest steel producer during January-October, 2021, according to the latest report released by the World Steel Association (WSA).

Production of crude steel in Iran reached 22.4 million tons during the mentioned time span to register a 5.7 percent decline year on year, the report said.

The WSA’s report put the crude steel output by the world’s top 64 producers at about 1.607 billion tons in the mentioned time span, registering an increase of 5.9 percent.

Iran’s monthly crude steel output stood at 2.2 million tons in October 2021, falling 15.3 percent compared to the figure for September 2020, while the world’s producers managed to produce 145.7 million tons of steel to register a 10.6-percent drop year on year.

Producing 877.1 million and 96.9 million tons of the product, China and India stood at the first and second places in the said period, respectively, while Japan stood at third place producing 80.4 million tons of crude steel.

The U.S., Russia, South Korea, Germany, Turkey, and Brazil took fourth to ninth places, respectively.

According to the report, China accounted for 49 percent of the world’s total steel production during the mentioned 10 months.

Africa produced 1.3 million tons of the commodity in October 2021, up 24.1 percent from September. Asia and Oceania produced 100.7 million tons, down 16.6 percent. The CIS produced 8.3 million tons, down 0.2 percent. The EU produced 13.4 million tons, up 6.4 percent. Other European countries produced 7.7 million tons, up 4.4 percent, West Asia produced 3.2 million tons, down 12.7 percent. North America produced 10.2 million tons, up 16.9 percent, while South America produced four million tons, up 12.1 percent.

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.

The country is expected to climb to seventh place among the world’s top steel producers by the Iranian calendar year 1404 (March 2025).

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).

EF/MA