TEHRAN - Iran has maintained its place as the world’s 10th biggest steel producer during January-March 2022, according to the latest report released by the World Steel Association (WSA).

Production of crude steel in Iran reached 6.9 million tons during the mentioned three months, registering a 4.4 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 456.6 million tons in the mentioned time span, 6.8 percent less than the figure for the previous year’s first quarter.

Iran’s monthly crude steel output stood at 2.3 million tons in March, falling 6.1 percent compared to the figure for March 2021. The world’s producers managed to produce 161 million tons of steel in the said month to register a 5.8-percent drop year on year.

Producing 243.4 million and 31.9 million tons of steel, China and India stood in first and second places in the said period, respectively, while Japan occupied third place producing 23 million tons of the mentioned product.

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

During the first quarter of the current year, China’s production declined by 10.5 percent, Japan’s production fell 2.9 percent, Brazil experienced negative growth of 2.2 percent, Turkey’s output declined by 4.7 percent, and South Korea registered a negative 3.8 percent growth.

African nations produced 1.2 million tons of the commodity in March 2022, down 17.1 percent from the figure for March 2021, while Asia and Oceania countries produced 118.6 million tons, down five percent, year on year, according to the mentioned report.

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).

EF/MA