According to recent data released by the Iranian Steel Producers Association (ISPA), the country’s steel production in the first half of the current Persian Year (Mar-Sept’21) registered a significant fall as compared to the same period last year.
The decline in production comes as steel mills were forced to lower electricity consumption amidst widespread blackouts in the scorching summer.
- Iran produced 12.99 million tonnes (mn t) of semi-finished steel in the first half of the current Persian Year, down 14% y-o-y. Billets and blooms accounted for 7.74 mn t out of the total semi-finished steel output, a noticeable decline of 17% while slabs production was down by 9% y-o-y to 5.26 mn t..
- The total production of finished steel stood at 9.28 mn t in Mar-Sept’21, lower by almost 10% y-o-y as against 10.29 mn t seen in the corresponding period last year (CPLY).
- Production of long and flat steel products in the period under review stood at 5.31 mn t and 3.97 mn t, down by 4% and 16%, respectively.
- Rebar and HRC accounted for the largest share of finished longs and finished flats production with 4.36 mn t and 3.90 mn t, respectively. However, volumes of both rebar and HRC, witnessed a decrease of 4% and 15%, respectively as against the same period last year.
- As per statistics released by ISPA, Iran’s direct reduced iron (DRI) production stood at 14.79 mn t in Mar-Sept’21, down 5% y-o-y as compared to 15.56 mn t in the same period last year.
It seems that power outages may go on to plague the steel sector in Iran. Steel companies faced power outages in the previous quarter, due to restrictions on electricity consumption and widespread blackouts which impacted production.
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