Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 21
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Over 9.465 million tonnes of crude steel were produced in Iran during the first seven months of current year, 9.27 percent more compared to the same period of 2013.
The country's crude steel production stood at 1.45 million tonnes in July, which indicates an 11.36 percent increase in comparison with July 2013, the World Steel Association said in its latest monthly report released Aug. 20.
The world' total crude steel output in the seven-month period was around 959.687 million tonnes.
China was the biggest crude steel producer in the world in the period with about 480.761 million tonnes of production, followed by Japan (64.534 million tonnes), the U.S. (51.22 million tonnes), India (48.240 million tonnes), South Korea (41.979 million tonnes) and Russia (41,475 million tonnes).
Iran ranked 15th among the world's 65 steel producers in terms of production during the first seven months of 2014, with no change in production from the previous year.
The country produced 1.141 million tonnes of crude steel in Jan, 1.26 million tonnes in February, 1.329 million tonnes in March, 1.456 million tonnes in April, 1.422 million tonnes in May and 1.408 million tonnes in June, according to the report.
Iran's crude steel production reached 15.421 million tonnes in 2013, which is 6.6 percent more than its preceding year. Iran was the world's 15th biggest producer of steel in 2013.
Over 1.582 billion tonnes of crude steel were produced in the world in 2013.
Iran's official statistics said that the country produced about 5.882 million tonnes of crude steel during the four month period from March 21 that was 8.6 percent more compared to the same period of the preceding year (Iran's fiscal year starts on March 21).
The country plans to increase its annual steel output to 55 million tonnes by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2015).