Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.12/ Trend R.Zamanov/
Iran's steel products output surpassed 8.378 million tons in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (which started on March 21), the Mehr News Agency reported.
The country's steel products output in the sixth months of the current year (August 23 - September 22) stood at 1.259 million tons.
Over 7.788 million tons of crude steel were produced in Iran during the first half of the year.
The figure shows 6.6 per cent increase compared to the same period of time previous year.
Deputy Industry, Mine, and Trade Minister Seyyed Alireza Shoja'ei said on July 19 that Iran's steel production capacity surpassed 31 million tons in the previous calendar year, which ended March 20.
"The country's steel products output stood at 17.4 million tons in the mentioned period," the IRNA News Agency quoted Shoja'ei as saying.
Iranian Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Vajihollah Ja'fari said June 30 that the country plans to boost its crude steel production capacity up to 24 million tons by the end of the current calendar year (March 20, 2014).
Iran's crude steel production capacity stood at 500,000 tons in 1978 but currently it is around 20 million tons, the IRNA News Agency quoted Ja'fari as saying.
By inauguration of some steel production projects in provinces of Gilan, Yazd, Esfahan, and Fars some 4 million tons would be added to the country's total crude steel production capacity, he explained.
Ja'fari said last April that the country's annual crude steel output is projected to reach 55 million tons by 2025.
The latest statistics released by the World Steel Association shows that Iran has produced 6.077 million tons of crude steel in the first five months of 2013.