Iran's Steel Production Rises by 10% in First Half of 2020

August 25, 2020

Yazd, Aug 25, IRNA –Iranian Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Khodadad Gharibpour while referring to the World steelmakers' performance in the first half of 2020, said that steel production in Iran in this period has a positive growth of 10 %, while world production recorded a decrease of nearly 6 %.

Gharibpour made these remarks in the inauguration ceremony of Ardakan's Direct reduced iron plan -sponge iron- in Yazd province.

"These statistics indicate that Iran has grown by 16 percent in the production of steel compared to the world, with Vietnam and China showing a growth 4.6 and 1.6 percent after Iran," he said.

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.

Head of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) said that the world's average steel production with a capacity of 870 million tons was negative compared to six months of 2019, indicating that Iran had been successful in mining regardless of sanctions.

This year, more than nine million tons of ingots have been produced in Iran, which has been facing up to nine-percent rise, Gharibpour said.

Gharibpour referred to the vital role of the steel sector in the job market and about 200,000 people are directly involved in the steel industry.

According to a recent report by Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization on the development of under-construction steel production units, 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 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 million tons by March 2024, only 900,000 tons short of the target, for reaching which Iranian steelmakers will have one more year.