Iranian crude steel production increased 14.5% on-year in the month through 21 August to 1.53 million tonnes, while finished product output declined -2.7% to 1.31mt, Kallanish learns from the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organisation (Imidro).

Crude steel output in the five months through 21 August, or first five months of the Iranian year, rose 5% to 7.59mt. The largest producers were Mobarakeh Steel (MSC) – without subsidiaries – at 2.29mt, Khouzestan Steel (KSC) at 1.48mt and Esfahan Steel (Esco) with 1.05mt. Next came Mobarakeh subsidiaries Hormozgan Steel and Saba Steel with 438,302t and 289,161t respectively, followed by Khorasan Steel and Iran Alloy Steel with 242,050t and 154,334t respectively.

Iranian finished steel output in the five months, however, declined -1.6% on-year to 6.72mt.

Iranian steelmakers have stepped up exports, especially of semis, to compensate for weak construction industry demand at home. Esco has hiked billet and longs exports to Europe and the neighbouring Gulf Cooperation Council, while KSC has supplied considerable billet tonnages to the Middle East and North Africa.

In June MSC began producing bloom and billet, having traditionally been a flat steelmaker, while Esco commissioned last month its continuous billet caster no.5.