Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.25 / Trend F.Milad/
The World Steel Association reported that Iran's crude steel output increased by 10 percent for the first 10 months of the current year compared to the same period of last year. The figure hits 10.9 million tons.
The report said that the world's steel output increased by 6.2 percent in October compared to the same month of last year, reaching 124 million tons, ISNA news agency reported.
China was the top steel producer in October with 54.7 million tons of output, the report said.
According to the World Steel Association, Iran was the second leading steel producer in the Middle East in 2010 after Turkey.
Iran also ranked 7th among the Asian producers.
Iran will become one of the world's main steel exporters by March 2016, Industry, Mine and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari said in May.
Iran plans to reach the production capacity worth 42 million tons per year by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Socio-Economic Development Plan (March 2016).
Ghazanfari said that at present, the steel production capacity hits 19 million tons annually.