Posted on 19 Apr 2024
Iran's finished steel output in the Iranian year from 21 March 2023 to 20 March 2024 fell marginally, but semi-finished steel and steelmaking raw materials each rose more than 5% on-year, reaching the highest output of the past four years, Kallanish notes.
The Iranian Steel Producers Association (ISPA) says on its online Chilan portal that semi-finished steel production over the 12 months increased by 5.5% to 32.10 million tonnes from 30.43mt a year earlier. Billet and bloom production increased by 9.2% to 20.46mt, but slab production fell by 0.4% to 11.64mt.
Surprisingly, the core finished long products, rebar, rebar in coils and wire rod, saw combined production fall by 1% to 10.29mt, bringing total finished long products to shrink by 0.3% to 12.49mt. Production of beams increased by 1.3% to 1.30mt, while production of angles, channels and other products rose by 5.1% to 894,000 tonnes.
The 12-month output of flat products increased by 0.3% on-year to 9.09mt, with coated steel production - mainly hot-dip galvanised coil - rising by 7.1% to 1.68mt. However, hot rolled coil output declined 1.5% to 8.60mt and cold rolled coil 2.8% to 2.34mt.
Despite severe natural gas restrictions in winter, combined production of direct reduced iron (DRI) and hot briquetted iron (HBI) increased by 5.3% to 33.39mt from 31.72mt a year earlier, and iron ore pellets increased by 5.3% to 56.73mt.
Source:Kallanish