Iran’s crude steel output up 8% in first 7 months of 2012

TEHRAN,Aug.23(MNA) - Iran produced 8.436 million tons of crude steel during the first seven months of 2012, about an 8 percent rise compared to the same period last year, the World Steel Association (WSA) reported. The ISNA News Agency quoted the WSA report, adding that Iran’s crude steel output hit 1.122 million tons in July, up four percent year on year. According to the report, most of the world’s major steel producers experienced a fall in their outputs. However, the global crude steel output rose by one percent in the seven-month period compared to the year before, reaching 896.944 million tons. Iranian Deputy Industry Minister Vajihollah Jafari said on April 9 that the country’s annual crude steel output is projected to reach 55 million tons by 2025. “The output stood at 12.7 million tons last year,” he said, adding that Iran also had produced some 16 million tons of steel products. Iran will become one of the world’s main steel exporters by March 2016, Industry, Mine and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari said in May 2011. Iran will be a self-sufficient steel producer in the next three years, the vice chairman of the Association of Iranian Steel Producers Hamidreza Taherizadeh said on July 31. He told that despite global economic sanctions, the country’s steel output increased by 5 million tons during the past two years, reaching 17 million tons.