TEHRAN- Iran’s export of steel ingots increased 135 percent during the first month of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-April 21), as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

As reported by the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry, 566,000 tons of steel ingots were exported during the mentioned month.

Earlier this month, Iranian Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry issued a three-month waiver for some approved steel production units to be able to export steel products especially long sections.

The Industry Ministry had restricted the exports of steel products and obliged all steel producers to offer their products at Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME).

Iran’s export of steel during the previous Iranian calendar year 1399 (ended on March 20) declined 13.1 percent compared to the figure for the preceding year, data released by the Iranian Steel Producers Association (ISPA) showed.

Based on the mentioned data, over 2.839 million tons of steel products were exported in the mentioned year, registering an 18-percent decline year on year.

As ISPA data indicated, the exports of steel products, intermediate steel, and sponge iron all declined last year, and despite significant output growth and the demand decline in the domestic construction sector, the exports of the mentioned products did not increase due to the pandemic.

Based on the Industry Ministry data, major Iranian steel producers managed to produce over 22.54 million tons of steel ingots in the previous calendar year, registering an eight percent rise year on year.

The mentioned companies produced over 2.04 million tons of steel ingots in the last month of the previous year (February 19-March 20), 17 percent more than the figure for the same month in the preceding year.

Mobarakeh Steel Company had the best performance with a production of 9.8 million tons of the mentioned product while the highest production growth was registered by Sirjan Steel World Company with 141 percent growth.

Iran is currently the tenth largest steelmaker in the world and is estimated to climb to seventh place by the Iranian calendar year 1404 (March 2025).

MA/MA