TEHRAN - Iran has maintained its place as the worlds 10th biggest steel producer during January-June 2022, according to the latest data released by the World Steel Association (WSA).Production of crude steel in Iran reached 13.6 million tons during the mentioned six months, registering a 10.8 percent decline year on year, the report said.The WSA put the crude steel output by the worlds top 64 producers at about 949 million tons in the mentioned time span, 5.5 percent less than the figure for the previous years first half.Irans monthly crude steel output stood at 2.2 million tons in June, falling 10.8 percent compared to the figure for June 2021.
The worlds producers managed to produce 158.1 million tons of steel in the said month to register a 5.9-percent drop year on year.Producing 526 million and 63.2 million tons of steel, China and India stood in first and second places in the said period, respectively, while Japan occupied third place producing 46 million tons of the mentioned product.The United States , Russia, South Korea, Germany, Turkey, and Brazil took fourth to ninth places, respectively.During the first half of the current year, Chinas production declined by 6.5 percent, Japans production fell 4.3 percent, Brazil experienced negative growth of 2.9 percent, Turkeys output declined by 4.6 percent, and South Korea registered a negative 3.9 percent growth.African nations produced 1.2 million tons of the commodity in June 2022, down 18.7 percent from the figure for June 2021, while Asia and Oceania countries produced 118.8 million tons, down 3.1 percent, year on year, according to the mentioned data.The Iranian Steel industry has been constantly developing over the past years against all the pressures and obstacles created by outside forces like the United States sanctions and the coronavirus outbreak that has severely affected the performance of the worlds top producers.The country is expected to climb to seventh place among the worlds top steel producers by the Iranian calendar year 1404 (March 2025).EF/MA