Iran’s crude steel output is expected to touch 30mn t in the current Persian year (21 Mar’20-20 Mar21) amid expansion of capacity in the steel sector, said Iran’s deputy minister of industry, mines and trade Darioush Esmaili.
Iran produced 31.9 mn t crude steel in calendar year 2019, according to the World Steel Association. Iran expects to become the eighth largest steel producer by 2025, said Esmaili. The country has set a target of producing 55 mn t crude steel by 2025.
Iran, the largest steel producer in the MENA region, produced 11.44 mn t crude steel during Jan-May 2020, a growth of 11% y-o-y from 10.28 mn t in the same period of the previous year. Iran’s May crude steel output increased by 8.9% y-o-y to 2.35 mn t.
Iran has around 2.80 bn t iron ore reserves and would need to produce 160 mn t ore each year as crude steel output rose to the 55 mn t level, said Esmaili. Given its rapidly growing domestic needs, Iran needed to conserve iron ore for its own use to supply the steel sector for a long period.
Referring to the recent ban on iron ore exports, he said Iran will focus on producing more pellet and concentrate instead of exporting fines. Iran exported over 20 mn t of unprocessed iron ore a decade ago, while the export decreased to 6 mn t last year.
Recently, one of the subsidiary companies of mining conglomerate IMIDRO, Sangan Iron Ore Complex, started trial production at its two greenfield iron ore concentration plants, which is equipped to produce 2.5 mtpa each. The project is expected to get commissioned by the end of this month. The complex has 1.20 bn t mineral reserves, with a production target of 17mn t pa concentrate and 15mn t pa pellets.
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