Steel Exports Up, Imports Down

EghtesadOnline: A total of 3.38 million tons of finished and semi-finished steel products were exported from Iran during the first four months of the current fiscal year (March 21-July 22) to register a 32.64% year-on-year growth, the Iranian Steel Producers Association announced.

News ID: ۷۸۳۷۹۸

26 August 2018

Semi-finished steel made up 2.48 million tons of the total export volume, up 16% YOY.

Billet and bloom had the lion’s share of semis exports with an aggregate of 1.26 million tons to mark a 35% growth YOY. Slab followed with 1.22 million tons, up 2% YOY.

Semis imports made up 16,000 tons of the total figure, up by 167%. Billet and bloom imports went up by 200% to 15,000 tons and slab remained steady at 1,000 tons, according to Financial Tribune.

Imports of finished steel dropped 51% YOY to 370,000 tons. The imports mostly included CRC with 122,000 tons, down 36%; HRC with 105,000 tons, down 71.93%; coated coil with 100,000 tons, down 21%; rebar with 16,000 tons, down 48.39%; ‘other steel products’ with 18,000 tons, down 25%; and beams with 9,000 tons, down 40%.

Production Sees 13.89% Growth

Iranian steelmakers produced a total of 15.26 million tons of products during the four-month period to register a 13.89% growth compared with last year’s corresponding period.

Semi-finished steel made up 8.27 million tons of the total output, up 17% YOY.

‘Billet and bloom’ made up 4.48 million tons of all semi-finished production volume while slab output hit 3.79 million tons to register a 19% and 15% year-on-year rise respectively.

As for finished steel, output increased 10% YOY to reach 6.98 million tons.

Hot-rolled coil had the lion’s share of finished steel production with 2.75 million tons, up 16% YOY.

It was followed by rebar with 2.37 million tons, up 15%; cold-rolled coil with 786,000 tons, down 4%; coated coil with 477,000 tons, down 9%; beams with 310,000 tons, up 20%; and ‘other steel products’ with 276,000 tons, down 3%.

Iran’s direct-reduced iron production is registering a healthy growth. It stood at 8.60 million tons during the four months, indicating a 19% rise YOY.

Semis Apparent Usage Growing

According to ISPA, Iran’s apparent steel usage–defined as production plus imports minus exports, sometimes also adjusted for changes in inventories–stood at 5.8 million tons for semis to grow 18% and reached 6.45 million for finished products to drop 3% YOY.

Hot-rolled coil had the lion’s share of finished steel consumption, as it reached 2.52 million tons, down 5% YOY. It was followed by rebar with 1.99 million tons, up 5% YOY; cold-rolled coil with 898,000 tons, down 11% YOY; coated coil with 541,000 tons, down 14% YOY; beams with 253,000 tons, up 21%; and ‘other steel products’ with 252,000 tons, down 13% YOY.

As for semis, usage of billet and bloom grew 14% to 3.23 million tons, while that of slab rose 23% to 2.57 million tons.  DRI usage was up 20% for the period to reach 8.31 million tons.