Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 28
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's private sector has produced over 3.496 million metric tons of steel products during the first eight months of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21-Nov. 22), the official IRNA news agency reported Dec. 28.
Over 1.277 million metric tons of steel ingots were produced by Iran's private sector during the 8-month period.
The eighth calendar month's output accounted for 169,400 metric tons of the mentioned figure.
The Islamic Republic's private companies also produced about 2.129 million metric tons of steel bars as well as 129,100 metric tons of steel sheets respectively during the first eight months of current fiscal year.
Over 11.2 million metric tons of crude steel were produced in Iran in total during the period, which state-run companies shared 88.6 percent of the mentioned figure.
The figure is 6.8 percent more compared the same months of preceding year.
Iranian private and state-run companies also produced 11.656 million metric tons of steel products during the 8-month period, indicating a 4.8 percent growth compared to the same months of last year.
Iran produced 15.6 million metric tons of crude steel during the last fiscal year (ended on March 21), 8.8 percent more in comparison with preceding year.
Islamic Republic's steel products output also stood at 16.5 million metric tons in last fiscal year, indicating a 5 percent decrease year on year.
The World Steel Association reported that about 14.97 million metric tons of crude steel were produced in Iran during the first eleven months of current year or by 6.4 percent more compared to the same period of 2013.
The country ranked 14th among the world's 65 steel producers in terms of production in the first eleven months of 2014.
Follow the author on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh