Iran crude steel output up 11.7 percent in 2011: WSA

Iran crude steel output up 11.7 percent in 2011: World Steel Association. Iran produced 8.768 million tons of crude steel in the first eight months of 2011, World Steel Association (WSA) reported. The amount shows 13.1 percent increase compared to the previous year’s figure. The volume of Iran’s steel production in the first eight months of 2010 was stood on 7.75 million tons), the WSA added. Iran's crude steel output improved by 10.4 percent year on year, reaching an estimated figure of 1.05 million metric tons in August this year, the World Steel Association said. According to the World Steel Association, Iran was the second leading steel producer in the Middle East in 2010 after Turkey. Iran also ranked 7th among the Asian producers. Iran will become one of the world’s main steel exporters by March 2016, Industry, Mine and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari said in May. Iran plans to reach the production capacity of 42 million tons per year by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Socio-Economic Development Plan (March 2016). According to Ghazanfari, the nation’s steel production capacity is currently 19 million tons annually. “There are 106 industrial and mineral projects, worth some $29 billion dollar, underway in different cities of the country which will be gradually inaugurated by the end of the fifth five year development plan,” he added. Ghazanfari went on to note that 16 of these 106 projects, worth some $2 billion, will come on stream by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2012). The total value of Iran's steel exports surpassed $210m during the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21), according to an industrial official, IRNA has reported. Deputy Minister of Industries, Mines and Trade Khodamorad Ahmadi has revealed that the value of various steel products rose between 53-187% during the same period. According to the World Steel Association (worldsteel), in August this year the crude steel output of 64 countries surveyed across the globe reached 124.6 million mt, increasing by 9.8 percent on year-on-year basis. Total global crude steel production decreased 2.3 percent on month-on-month basis, from the 127.5 million mt recorded in July. Total global crude steel output in the first half of the year was 1.01 billion mt, up by 8.3 percent year on year. In August, crude steel output in Asia amounted to 81.28 million mt, up by 12 percent, with 58.75 million mt produced by China, up by 13.8 percent, 8.9 million mt produced by Japan, up by 0.1 percent, 5.5 million mt produced by South Korea, up by 19.3 percent - with all comparisons on year-on-year basis. EU-27 countries produced 12.7 million mt of crude steel in August, up 4.3 percent comparing with August 2010. Germany's output was 3.6 million mt, up by 5.3 percent year on year, Italy's crude steel output was 1.4 million mt, up 25.6 percent year on year, and Spain's crude steel output was 1.1 million mt, down 7.6 percent year on year. Turkey produced 2.8 million metric tons of crude steel in August this year, with a 7.8 percent increase over the same month in 2010. The CIS registered a crude steel output of 9.45 million mt in August, up 5.3 percent year on year, with Russia producing an estimated figure of 5.85 million mt, up by 3.4 percent, and Ukraine producing an estimated figure of 2.8 million mt, up 5.3 percent on year on year basis. In North America in August, crude steel output reached 10.49 million mt, up 12.8 percent year on year, with the US producing 7.5 million mt and Mexico producing an estimated figure of 1.7 million mt, up 13.8 percent and 21.2 percent respectively on year on year basis. Meanwhile, crude steel output in South America in August reached 4.1 million mt, up by 4.8 percent year on year, with Brazil's output reaching 2.96 million mt, up by 1.5 percent year on year. In the given month, the average capacity utilization of steel mills across the globe was 77.5 percent, down by 2.1 percentage points month on month, and also up 3.5 percentage points compared to the same month last year.