TEHRAN (Dispatches) - Iran has posted 7% year-on-year increase in production of various steel products, including bars, rods, profiles, sheets and plates, while the country’s output of crude steel, including blooms, billets, and slabs, had grown by five percent.
Iran’s ministry of industry issued a report on Thursday showing that production of crude steel, including blooms, billets, and slabs, had increased by five percent in the eight-month period ending on November 21 to reach a total of 17.424 million tons.
The report said that mills across Iran had produced 13.556 million tons of various steel products, including bars, rods, profiles, sheets and plates, an increase of seven percent compared to the March-November period in 2018, when output stood at 12.635 million tons.
It said production of direct reduced iron, also known as sponge iron, had reached 18.552 million tons in late November, up seven percent compared to the previous year.
The statistics are the latest to prove that Iran’s metals sector is booming despite a series of bans imposed by Washington since May this year seeking to hamper the country’s efforts to develop the steel mills and make them more export-oriented.
Iran has stated that the sanctions have failed to affect plans for increased output as the country seeks to improve its position as a major steel producer in the world.
Output of various steel products was down year-on-year over the summer months and before the government imposed a harsh tariff on exports of raw iron.
That allowed major steel mills in central and Southern Iran to increase production and think of better markets for exports.