Steel Production Surges Over 8 Million Tons in Two Months

EghtesadOnline: Iranian steelmakers produced close to 8.17 million tons of semi-finished and finished steel products during the first two month of the current fiscal year (March 20-May 20) to register a 1.45% year-on-year increase.

News ID: ۷۵۰۲۵۷

16 June 2020

According to the Iranian Steel Producers Association’s latest report, semi-finished steel made up 4.69 million tons of the total output, up 4% YOY.

Billet and bloom made up 2.69 million tons of semi-finished production while slab output hit 1.99 million tons to register a 2% decline and 13% rise respectively YOY.

As for finished steel, the output declined by 1% YOY to reach 3.47 million tons.

Flat steel products had the lion’s share of finished steel production with 1.81 million tons, down 1% YOY. HRC made up 1.57 tons of the production in this category, showing a 1% decline compared with the similar period of last year, followed by CRC with 429,000 tons that registered a 48% rise YOY and coated coil with 211,000 tons (down 9% YOY).

Long steel products had a 1.66 million-ton share in the output of finished steel products, posting a 1% decline YOY. Rebar had a major share with 1.34 million tons (up 2% YOY), followed by beams with 201,000 tons (down 11% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 122,000 tons (down 9% YOY).

Direct-reduced iron production stood at 5.55 million tons during the two-month period, indicating an 11% growth YOY.

The latest report released by World Steel Association shows Iran is currently the world’s 10th biggest crude steel producer.

Iranian Ranking

According to the Brussels-based international trade body for the iron and steel industry, Iranian steel mills produced 8.49 million tons of crude steel during January-April, which indicate a 4.3% rise compared with the corresponding period of 2019.

The country is placed between Brazil (9th) with 9.95 million tons of production and Vietnam (11th) with 7.16 million tons, the new report shows.

Iran’s crude steel output stood at 31.9 million tons in 2019, according to Worldsteel, up 30.1% YOY.

The world’s 64 steelmakers produced a total of 580.99 million tons of steel over the four-month period, down 4.1% YOY.

Global steel output stood at 137.09 million tons in April, indicating a 13% YOY decrease.

China was the world’s largest crude steel producer with 319.46 million tons of steel output, up 1.3% YOY.

China was followed by Japan with 30.73 million tons, India with 30.05 million tons, the United States with 26.68 million tons, Russia with 22.88 million tons, South Korea with 22.43 million tons and Germany with 12.86 million tons.

Crude steel is defined as steel in its first solid (or usable) form: ingots and semi-finished products (billets, blooms and slabs). This is not to be confused with liquid steel, which is steel poured.

Production Capacity, Targets

Iran aims to become the world’s sixth largest steel producer as per the 20-Year Vision Plan, which targets annual production capacity expansion to 55 million tons and 20-25 million tons of exports per year by 2025.

The country’s current steel production capacity stands at 35 million tons per year. It is expected to reach 43.6 million tons by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2021), while the actual production is estimated to hit 31.1 million tons to utilize 71% of the nominal capacity, according to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization.

IMIDRO also expects direct-reduced iron production capacity to reach 37.2 million tons by the fiscal yearend, while actual production is estimated to reach 33.6 million tons to utilize 90% of the nameplate capacity.

Pellet production capacity is expected to reach 66.4 million tons, as actual production is predicted to total 55.3 million tons, realizing 83% of the capacity.

Concentrate production capacity is estimated to hit 68.5 million tons, while the actual production would reach 58.1 million tons, realizing 85% of the capacity by March 20, 2021.

An IMIDRO report on development of under-construction steel production units indicated that a total of 19.1 million tons will be added to Iran’s annual steel production capacity by the time the development of all these units is complete in the fiscal 2023-24.

The addition of 19.1 million tons by the time the under-construction projects come on stream to the current capacity means the aggregate output capacity will reach 54.1 by March 2024, only 900,000 short of the target, for reaching which Iranian steelmakers will have one more year.