Iran’s eight-month steel output exceeds 35m tons

Over 35 million tons of crude steel and steel products were produced in the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (starting March 21) in Iran, according to official statistics released by the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade.

Major manufacturers in the country produced 18.6 million tons of crude steel during the period, indicating a 3.1% year-on-year drop, while the figure stood at 16.6 million tons for the steel products, also showing a 6.6% drop compared to the corresponding period of last year, IRNA reported.

Meanwhile, there was a 6.2% year-on-year rise in copper cathode output – 202,000 tons – while 360,000 tons of aluminum ingots were also produced, which offered a 24.8% hike compared to the same eight-month period of last year.

Iran possesses 2.7 billion tons of proven iron ore reserves – accounting for 8% of the total global reserves – as well as 2.6 billion tons of copper ore reserves.