Iran became the eighth largest steel supplier in the world in the first half of 2023 as the country kept increasing its output despite supply and price issues in the international markets caused by the war in Ukraine, according to a report.
The Saturday report by the state-run mining and metals company IMIDRO cited figures from the World Steel Association (worldsteel) showing that Iran’s steel production had risen by 4.8% year on year in January-June to reach 16.1 million metric tons (mt).
Iran was the world’s seventh largest steel producer in June with an output of 3.2 million mt, up 17.4% from June 2022, according to the report.
For years, Iran had been ranked 10th in worldsteel’s list of top steel-producing countries.
However, a steady increase in Iranian steel production, which has been caused by the country’s expansionist policies in its metals sector, has allowed Iran to gradually ascend in the ranking this year.
That has come amid a war between Russia and Ukraine that has affected supplies in the international markets.
Worldsteel figures showed that the steel output of 63 countries studied in its monthly reports had reached 158.8 million mt in June, slightly down by 0.1% from June 2022.
The total global steel production in January-March also dropped by 1.1% year on year to reach 943.9 million mt, showed the figures.
The seven leading steel producing countries trailed by Iran in the worldsteel’s ranking of January-July were China, India, Japan, the US, Russia, South Korea and Germany while Brazil and Turkey came ninth and tenth in the list.