Semi-finished steel made up 810,244 tons or more than 89.9% of the total export volume to register a 43% year-on-year decline.
Finished steel products had a 10.1% share of exports with 90,882 tons to witness a 64% year-on-year decline, the Iranian Steel Producers Association reported.
Ingots topped the list of exports as the heavyweight steel producers exported 605,757 tons of the semi-finished product during the three-month period, indicating a 32% year-on-year decrease.
Khuzestan Steel Company had the lion's share in ingot exports, as it exported 211,782 tons of the semi-finished product, down by 48% YOY. It was followed by South Kaveh Steel Company with 121,619 tons (down 39% YOY), Esfahan Steel Company (ESCO) with 122,030 tons (down 30% YOY), Chadormalu Steel Company with 89,700 tons (up 232% YOY), Arfa Steel Company with 30,626 tons (down 32% YOY) and Khorasan Steel Company with 30,000 tons (unchanged).
In terms of export volume, slab came second as the heavyweight steel mills exported 204,487 tons of the product in Q1, down 61% YOY.
Hormozgan Steel Company topped the list in slab exports, as it exported 113,110 tons of the product during the three-month period, down 43% YOY. KSC came next with 60,577 tons, down 57% YOY and Mobarakeh Steel Company with 30,800 tons, down 83% YOY.
Rebar exports hit 45,992 tons, down 41% YOY. ESCO was the sole exporter of this finished product, as it exports witnessed a 38% YOY decrease.
Hot-rolled coil was next with 19,039 tons to register an 85% YOY decline. Mobarakeh Steel Company had the lion's share with 18,100 tons, while Oxin Steel Company exported 939 tons to observe a 225% jump YOY.
Beam exports hit 11,851 tons by the sole exporter, ESCO, during the three months under review, down 3% YOY.
MSC was the sole exporter of CRC and coated coils, as it exported 9,600 tons of the products in Q1 to register a 55% YOY increase. It also exported 4,400 tons of cold-rolled coil during the period, down 81% YOY.
The ISPA report only takes into account production of large-scale producers. The volume of total exports by all Iranian steelmakers during the three months under review is larger than the 809,665-ton quoted figure.
More than 10.36 million tons of finished and semi-finished steel products were exported from Iran in the last Iranian year (ended March 19, 2020) to register a 22.21% YOY increase.
Semi-finished steel made up 6.9 million tons or more than 66.66% of the total export volume, up 26% YOY.
Billet and bloom had the lion’s share of semis exports with an aggregate of 4.83 million tons to mark a 24% YOY rise. Slab followed with 2.07 million tons, up 31% YOY.
Exports of finished steel products increased by 16% YOY to reach 3.45 million tons.
11% Rise in Production
The above-mentioned steelmakers, considered heavyweight manufacturers in Iran, produced a total of 9.27 million tons of steel (semis and finished) during the three months under review, registering an 11.28% growth YOY.
A total of 3.57 million tons of finished steel products, including hot- and cold-rolled coils, rebar, beams, pipes, wide and galvanized sheets, were produced by these steel mills during the period under review to register a 1% YOY rise.
They produced 5.70 million tons of semi-finished steel, including ingot, bloom and billet, during the two months to witness an 8% rise YOY.
With 4.72 million tons of output, Mobarakeh Steel Company had the largest share of steel production in Iran during the period.
The company produced 2.12 million tons of finished steel during the period, to register a 4% decline compared with last year’s corresponding period.
In addition, close to 2.6 million tons of semi-finished products were produced by MSC, up 10% year-on-year, the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization’s latest report shows.
In terms of finished steel production, MSC was followed by ESCO with 571,121 tons (down 4% YOY), Khouzestan Oxin Steel Company with 230,787 tons (up 8% YOY), Khorasan Steel Company with 117,401 tons (down 32% YOY) and Azarbaijan Steel Company with 89,213 tons (up 11% YOY) during the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
In terms of semis, MSC was followed by KSC with 1.03 million tons (up 4% YOY), Esfahan Steel Company with 586,009 tons (down 7% YOY), Chadormalu Steel Company with 254,165 tons (down 3% YOY), South Kaveh Steel Company with 232,596 tons (down 21% YOY) and Khorasan Steel Company with 218,037 tons (down 21% YOY).