Iran’s steel production has seen a sharp drop in Jul’21 on power outages. According to recent media reports, statistics from the Iranian Steel Producers Association (ISPA) show that production of steel in Jul’21 decreased sharply as compared to Jun’21, one of the reasons for which is power outages at steel producing units.
The total production of steel in the first four months of this year stood at 6.5 mn t, lower by 6% when compared to the corresponding period last year (CPLY).
Production of billets/blooms and rebar in the month of Jul’21 decreased m-o-m by 42% and 53% respectively. In the first four months of the current Iranian year, billet/bloom production fell by 5% compared to 5.78 mn t in CPLY. Production of slabs in these four months also decreased by 3% y-o-y to 3.79 mn t.
Production of long and flat products in the first four months of this year was reported to be 3.7 mn t and 2.8 mn t, down by 1% and 11%, respectively.
The production of rebar was just over 3 mn t, which shows a decrease of 1% as against the same period last year.
Power curbs on mills eased
Iran has been facing an unprecedented power crisis since the second week of Jul’21 in this scorching summer. However, some of the curbs brought on by the iron and steel mills have been eased. As per the new eased norms, the steel industry can carry on production on Mondays and Tuesdays from midnight till 8 am the next day operating at 50% of their total electricity consumption. However, for the balance period of the day and up to midnight, the mills can operate using only 10% of the power they actually require.
From Wednesday to Sunday, the mills can continue with their production at all hours of the day and night but only drawing 50% of the total power they require from the grid.
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