TEHRAN (Iran News) –  Iran’s export of steel products increased 215 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, 265,000 tons of steel products were exported during the mentioned month of this year, while the figure was 84,000 tons in the first month of the previous year.

In early May, the 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.

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).

According to the latest data released by the World Steel Association (WSA), Iran was ranked the world’s tenth-largest steel producer in the first three-month of 2021.

According to the WSA’s data, Iran produced 7.5 million tons of crude steel in Q1 2021, registering a 10.7 percent growth compared to the same period in 2020.

The Islamic Republic’s steel output stood at 2.6 million tons in March, indicating a 10.7 percent rise year on year.

The Iranian Steel industry has been constantly developing over the past years against all the pressures and obstacles created by outside forces like the U.S. sanctions and the coronavirus outbreak that has severely affected the performance of the world’s top producers.