The steel mills shipped out 254,018 tons during the ninth month of the year (Nov. 22-Dec. 21), which shows a 52% decline compared with the same month of the year before.
KSC Tops the List
With a total of 1.66 million tons of exports over the nine months and 138,995 tons in the ninth month, Khouzestan Steel Company was Iran's biggest steel exporter.
Nonetheless, the mill experienced a decline when compared with the preceding year's corresponding figures for both nine months and the ninth month, according to Financial Tribune.
KSC exported 645,267 tons of bloom, 403,761 tons of billet and 615,144 tons of slabs during the nine months, down 25%, 34% and 23% respectively YOY.
All of KSC's exported products, except bloom, saw a decline during the ninth month. The company exported 119,781 tons of bloom, up 268% YOY in addition to 19,214 tons of billet over the month to Dec. 21, down 86% YOY. It had no exports of slabs during for the month.
KSC saw an overall YOY decline of 42% in total exports during the month (138,995 tons).
The steelmaker, located in the southwestern Khuzestan Province, exports to over a dozen countries.
About half of the exports goes to the Middle East and North Africa region. Other major export destinations are located in the Far East and Americas.
Largest Steelmaker Ranks 2nd
Mobarakeh Steel Company, located in Isfahan, exported 747,587 tons of products during the nine months to register a 5% decrease YOY.
The company is the largest steelmaker in the Middle East and North Africa region as well as one of the largest industrial complexes operating in Iran.
Notably, the exports of hot-rolled coil saw a 29% growth to around 500,000 tons.
During the ninth month alone, MSC joined all other Iranian steel heavyweights by registering an annual decline. It shipped out 13,233 tons, which saw a 77% decline YOY.
All exported products experienced the decline during the month.
ESCO at 3rd Spot
Esfahan Steel Company (ESCO) exported 676,376 tons during the nine months, down 16% YOY.
The company registered year-on-year growths in the categories of beam and rebar by exporting 83,022 tons of beam and 122,086 tons of rebar during the period, which show an increase of 3% and 6% respectively YOY.
The major Iranian steel exporter shipped out 29,979 tons of coils, down by 38%. Its ingot exports stood at 441,289 tons, remaining unchanged YOY.
During the ninth month, ESCO exported 14,598 tons to register a year-on-year decline of 77%.
The company saw falls in monthly exports across all categories of its products. ESCO shipped out 6,115 tons of beam during the ninth month, registering a YOY decline of 25%. It exported 8,182 tons of rebar, down 30% year-on-year.
The exports of coils saw a 97% decline YOY to 301 tons.
Other Producers
During the nine months of the current year, almost all other producers, including Hormozgan Steel Company and Khorasan Steel Company, registered downturns.
The former exported 498,743 tons of slab, down by 41% YOY while the latter exported 54,373 tons of rebar, which was down by 33% YOY.
Khuzestan Oxin Steel Company was the only steel exporter to register an increase of exports during the nine months, as it shipped out 13,340 tons of steel sheets, up 79% YOY.
Sanctions Impact
The downturn in exports comes as the United States has imposed the "toughest sanctions ever" against Iran, attempting to prevent other countries to do trade with the Islamic Republic.
UK-based analysts in Fastmarkets said last month the sanctions are expected to cut Iranian steel exports further, gradually leading to lower Iranian steel output.
Although the move is now largely directed at the country’s oil and banking sectors, it is still expected to aggravate the situation in the Iranian export steel market, which had already been struck by the previous set of sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump’s administration in early August, they wrote on their website.
Trump announced his decision to pull out of the nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers, including the United States, in May.
“The Iranian market is almost closed now and banking issues are not the biggest problem here,” a Middle East-based source told Fastmarkets.
Shipping problems are a major issue at present because almost no company wants its vessels to call at Iranian ports, the source added.
“Mills still offer and you can book, but it may happen that you will never ship the material,” he said.
Under such conditions, Iranian steel exporters had to cut prices significantly to attract customers and compensate for the risks involved in trade with the country.
In fact, lower prices helped Iranian exporters win contracts.
Nevertheless, the source believed that steel export volumes from Iran, of semi-finished products in particular, will keep falling this year.
Export to Europe
Iran's Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Automotive Sheet Making Company has reportedly exported its first shipment of galvanized sheets to Europe, a senior official at the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade said on Monday.
According to Naeim Imami, chairman of the Industries, Mining and Trade Organization of Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province, the company exported 9,135 tons of galvanized sheets to Spain to mark its first export to Europe.
Revenues worth €5.72 million were obtained from the first shipment, he added.
According to the official, the company produced 171,150 tons of galvanized sheets since the beginning of the current Iranian year (started March 21, 2018).
"Some 58,000 tons of the products account for galvanized sheets for cars, while 113,000 tons constitute industrial galvanized sheets," he said, adding that the production of galvanized sheets increased by 9% year-on-year.
The production of the company’s plant, with a workforce of 300, has increased from 300,000 to 400,000 tons a year.
The plant was built in 2010 in Sefiddasht city of Borujen County in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province.