TEHRAN - Iran's crude steel production reached over 28 million tons in the first 11 months of 2024, registering a 0.5 percent increase compared to the same period last year, according to the latest report by the World Steel Association (WSA).

According to the WSA’s report, Iran maintained its position as the world's 10th largest steel producer during the mentioned period, Iran's Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) reported.

Iranian steel mills produced a total of 3.1 million tons of steel in November, registering a 0.1 percent increase compared to the same month of 2023.

The world's 71 steel-producing countries 146.8 million tons of steel in November 2024, indicating a 0.8 percent yearly rise.

Production of steel in Iran increased by 5.8 percent in the previous Iranian calendar year 1402 (ended on March 19), as compared to the preceding year, according to the Iranian Steel Producers Association (ISPA).

According to the data released by the ISPA, the country’s steel production reached 29.334 million tons in the previous year.

Of the mentioned amount, 18,452,000 tons were billet and bloom and 10,882,000 tons were slabs; Billet and bloom production increased by 9.2 percent and slab production increased by 0.7 percent in the previous year.

According to the ISPA data, the production of sponge iron also increased by 8.5 percent in the previous year in comparison to the figure for the preceding year.

Iran improved its global standing in steel production, becoming the ninth-largest producer in January 2024, according to the data released by the WSA.

The Islamic Republic produced 31.1 million tons of crude steel in 2023 to account for 58.4 percent of West Asia’s total production in the mentioned year, according to the WSA.

The West Asian nations reviewed in the WSA report, including Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, managed to produce 53.2 million tons of steel in 2023.

The country’s steel production increased by 1.8 percent in 2023 as compared to the previous year, when the production stood at 30.6 million tons, based on the WSA data.

West Asia’s total crude steel output increased by 1.3 percent in the mentioned year as compared to 2022.

Based on the WSA data, Iran was the world’s 10th largest steel producer in 2023.

The world's steel producers managed to produce more than 1.888 billion tons of steel in 2023, which is a very slight decrease compared to 2022, and as a result, the World Steel Association has declared the percentage of change to be zero.

China with a production of 1.019 billion tons, India with a production of 140.2 million tons, and Japan with a production of 87 million tons were the top three steel-producing countries in the world in 2023.

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).

Iran’s steel production is estimated to reach 32 million tons in the current year.

MA