According to the Iranian Steel Producers Association's latest report, semi-finished steel made up 17.42 million tons of the total output, up 5% YOY.
Billet and bloom made up 10.25 million tons of semi-finished production while slab output hit 7.17 million tons to register an 11% rise and 3% decline respectively YOY.
As for finished steel, the output increased 7% YOY to 13.55 million tons, Financial Tribune reported.
Flat steel products had the lion's share of finished steel production with 6.8 million tons, up 4% YOY. HRC made up 5.71 million tons of the production in this category, registering a 3% growth YOY, followed by CRC with 1.71 million tons (up 4% YOY) and coated coil with 1.09 million tons (up 20% YOY).
Long steel products had a 6.75 million-ton share in the output of finished steel products, posting a 9% rise YOY. Rebar had a major share here with 5.45 million tons (up 9% YOY), followed by beams with 740,000 tons (up 22% YOY) and L-beam, T-beam and other types with 556,000 tons (up 9% YOY).
Direct-reduced iron production stood at 18.55 million tons during the eight-month period, indicating a 7% rise YOY.
According to World Steel Association's latest data, Iran is the 10th biggest steel producer in the world as it produced 21.5 million tons of crude steel during the 10 months of 2019 (January to October), up 6.2% compared with the corresponding period of 2018.
The country's October output grew 7.5% year-on-year to hit 2.2 million tons, according to the Brussels-based international trade body for the iron and steel industry.
Iran’s crude steel output stood at 24.52 million tons in 2018, according to Worldsteel, up 17.7% YOY.
Iran was the second biggest producer in the world with 24 million tons of DRI production during the 10 months to register a 14.4% YOY growth.
Iran’s October DRI output grew 3.3% YOY to hit 2.48 million tons.
The country produced a total of 25.54 million tons of DRI in 2018, up 31.6% YOY.
Iran is aggressively pursuing the target of becoming 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 exports amounting to 20-25 million tons per year by 2025.
Iranian steel mills have so far realized about 34 million tons of the capacity target.
The country has been working to increase its iron ore processing capacity, including both DRI and hot-briquetted iron production to feed its steelmaking expansion target.
According to Deputy Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Khodadad Gharibpour, Iranian steel industry is an export-oriented one that exports more than 40% of its steel output.