Iran steel industry blasts out of the blocks despite sanctions

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Iran opens half-a-billion-dollar steel plants in Kerman
Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:24AM [Updated: Tue Jan 22, 2019 02:43PM ]

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This Jan. 22, 2019 photo by IRNA shows workers at Bardsir steelmaking plant which was officially commissioned on Tuesday.


Iranian Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri has formally inaugurated a direct reduction iron (DRI) plant and a steel pelletizing plant in the southeastern province of Kerman.

The two plants, built with more than half a billion dollars of investment, will add 1 million tonnes of DRI, otherwise known as sponge iron, and 2.5 million tonnes of iron ore pellets to Iran’s burgeoning steel production.

The first plant commissioned Tuesday was the Butia pelletizing (picture below) near the city of Kerman which has been producing pellets on a trial basis since April.

Jahangiri then traveled to Bardsir to open its 1 million-tonne DRI plant for production of billets and blooms.

The construction of Bardsir Steel with some $357 million marked the application of localized technology in design, installation and commissioning of a 140-tonne electric arc furnace as well as ladle furnace and a continuous casting machine.

A worker stands in front of the 140-tonne electric arc furnace at Bardsir plant on Jan. 22, 2019. (Photo by IRNA)
Iran is currently the second producer of DRI after India. New steel plants built in the country are widely using the new Persian Reduction (PERED) technology, which was invented and patented by MME, an Iranian-origin company registered in Germany.

Last January, Iran completed the hot commissioning of Neyriz Steel Complex in the southern Fars province which uses domestic technology for DRI production.


PressTV-Iran opens steel mill using domestic technology
Neyriz Steel Complex has a capacity to produce 800,000 tonnes of sponge iron a year, raising Iran’s nominal capacity to 19.5 million tonnes.
“This is the country’s third sponge iron project using the domestic Iranian DR technology, PERED,” state mines and metals holding company IMIDRO chairman Mehdi Karbasian said at the time.

Head of the Iranian Steel Producers Association Bahram Sobhani saidlast month that Iran is capable of producing 25 million tonnes of steel in the current fiscal year which ends on March 21.

The country plans to increase its nominal DRI and hot-briquetted iron (HBI) capacity to 55 million tonnes a year by 2025.

However, the sector is facing the headwinds of newly-imposed US sanctions, chiefly because they make attracting foreign investment difficult and steel mill equipment makers avoid the country.

Nevertheless, industry experts concede that even in worst-case scenarios, Iran’s steel industry will continue to grow. That is because the steel sector feeds more than 50 industries linked to construction in the country of 80 million where there is always strong demand for steel.

 

[SubWater]

Trump issues executive order imposing sanctions on Iran metal, mining sectors
Wed May 8, 2019 07:04PM [Updated: Wed May 8, 2019 07:56PM ]

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US President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 6, 2019. (AFP photo)


US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to impose new sanctions on Iran to deny it of revenue from exports in the metal and mining sectors.

"Today's action targets Iran's revenue from the export of industrial metals -- 10 percent of its export economy -- and puts other nations on notice that allowing Iranian steel and other metals into your ports will no longer be tolerated," Trump said in a statement Wednesday. "Tehran can expect further actions unless it fundamentally alters its conduct."

He further expressed willingness to negotiate with Iran over an agreement.

"I look forward to someday meeting with the leaders of Iran in order to work out an agreement and, very importantly, taking steps to give Iran the future it deserves," claimed the US president.

'90-day wind down period'

The US Treasury said subsequently that it was allowing a 90-day wind down period for transactions related to the sanctioned metal sector.

On the other hand, the United States has threatened Iran with “maximum pressure” in the wake of Tehran’s response to the Trump administration’s anti-Iran approach.


PressTV-‘Iran giving remaining signatories chance to save JCPOA’
During a visit to Russia, Foreign Minister Zarif says Iran is giving the remaining parties to the nuclear deal a 60-day “opportunity” to salvage the accord.
US envoy for Iran Brian Hook made the comment after Iran said it was scaling back some of the requirements under the 2015 nuclear deal.

"America is never going to be held hostage to the Iranian regime's nuclear blackmail," he said. "We will continue to impose maximum pressure on the regime until it abandons its destabilizing ambitions and we very much want the international community to hold the regime accountable for its threat to expand its nuclear program."


PressTV-Iran notifies deal partners of plan to suspend some commitments
Iran informs the remaining signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal of a decision to suspend the implementation of some of its commitments.
One year after Trump pulled the US out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the ambassadors of the countries remaining in the deal — France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China — received a letter penned by President Hassan Rouhani Wednesday, elaborating the suspension of some of Iran's commitments under the accord.

According to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, “The measures that we suspended are those in line with Articles 26 and 36 of the JCPOA, to which we are entitled.”

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/05/08/595459/US-imposes-sanctions-on-Iran-metal-mining-sectors

 

[SubWater]

Iran’s imports of steel hit record lows amid surge in exports
Mon Aug 12, 2019 03:49PM

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Iran’s imports of steel products hit new lows last spring amid a surge in exports.


A new report shows that Iran has imported 208 percent less of steel products this year as exports surge by about 20 percent.

Data by Iran’s Association of Steel Producers published on Monday showed that total steel steel imports into the country had decreased to 95,000 tons between late March and late June this year, down from 293,000 tons in the similar period in 2018.

The data covered in a report by the IRNA agency showed that raw steel imports declined nearly 83 percent to stand at 1,000 tons this June, while imports of long steel products like bars and rods were down 37 percent at 27,000 tons.

The report said Iran’s imports of steel sheets and plates hit the lowest levels in years in the second quarter this year to stand at 68,000 tons, down 276 percent compared to 256,000 tons of imports recorded last year. It added that imports of steel ingots, including billets and blooms, also decreased by 80 percent in the same period.

However, data showed that lower steel imports came at the expense of increased production and exports for Iran.

The IRNA report said that raw steel production in Iran in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year, which began in March, rose five percent to reach 6,638,000 tons.


PressTV-‘Iran’s imports of basic goods surge by 69 percent’
Iran’s chief banker says imports of basic goods to the country have risen by more than two thirds.
The data showed that raw steel exports, including ingots, surged in the second quarter of 2019 to hit 2,183,000 tons, an increase of 20 percent compared to the similar quarter last year.

The change in trade balance in Iran’s steel sector comes three months after the US government imposed sanctions on the country’s metals sector.

Announcing the sanctions in May, the White House said that Iran’s revenue from the export of industrial metals, including steel, accounted for 10 percent of its export economy.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/08/12/603354/Iran-steel-exports-imports-data-sanctions

 

[SubWater]

 

[SubWater]

Iran steel output outpaces global growth despite sanctions
Wed Oct 23, 2019 04:39PM [Updated: Wed Oct 23, 2019 04:45PM ]

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Iran says steel output surges by around six percent between March and September. (Photo IRIB News)


Iran says a surge in its steel production in the first eight months of this year has outpaced the global growth figures despite US sanctions that have specifically targeted the country’s metals sector.

Head of Iran’s largest holding in metals sector, known as IMIDRO, said on Wednesday that output of steel in the country had grown by around six percent between late March and early September, around 1.5 percent higher than the surge reported in global production.

“We have had two to three million tons of growth in steel production chain each year,” said Khodadad Gharibpour of a trend reported in Iran’s steel industry over the past years.

Speaking in a conference on metals in Tehran, Gharibpour said Iran’s total annual output of steel would hit a target of 28 million tons in March, when the current Iranian year concludes.

The announcement is the latest to come from Iranian officials showing that the country’s metals sector has remained largely unaffected by the American sanctions.


PressTV-‘Iran’s 6-month steel exports top 3.4mn tons’
Iran says steel exports increased by 3 percent in the past six months to reach 3.4 million tons.
US bans targeting Iran’s metals trade came in May, a year after Washington withdrew from a major international deal on Tehran’s nuclear program and started piling economic pressure on the country.

Iran, a leading producer of steel in the world, has said that exports to other countries have continued unabated while insisting that output keeps surging to respond to a growing domestic demand.

A report published last week showed that steel exports in the first six months of the Iranian colander year had reached 3.4 million tons, a three-percent surge compared to the similar period last year.

The report said some steel mills in Iran had increased exports by nearly 10 times in the period.

That comes as large mills in the country, like Khouzestan Steel (KSC), located southwest of the country, reported reduced output earlier this year mainly because of a sudden surge in export of raw iron.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/10/23/609402/Iran-steel-output-growth-global-figures-sanctions

 

[[Bregs]]

Iranis are very resilient people they have shown it many times

 

[SubWater]

 

[SubWater]

Iran opens new steel mill with over 1.5mn tons of annual capacity
Mon Nov 11, 2019 02:24PM [Updated: Mon Nov 11, 2019 04:53PM ]

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This November 11, 2019 photo released by the office of the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani shows him posing for a picture with staff and workers at the newly-opened Baft Steel, a mill located in the Baft region in the southeastern Kerman province.


Iran has opened a new steel mill with a production capacity of over one and a half millions a year as the country further diversifies its economy from oil and taps into its vast reserves of metals and minerals.

President Hassan Rouhani was in the southeastern province of Kerman on Monday to green-light the start of production at Baft Steel, a mill located in a city with the same name.

The official IRNA agency said the mill has a total designed capacity of 800,000 tons a year for direct reduced iron (DRI), also called sponge iron, while it will produce a similar amount of crude steel.


PressTV-Iran opening sprawling aluminum smelter in south
Iran is to open one of the largest aluminum smelters in the Middle East with over $1bn in investment.
It said construction for the mill started in 2017 and concurrent with a government initiative for fighting poverty and unemployment in Baft, a relatively poor region in Kerman, the province where some of Iran’s most precious metal reserves are located.

A total of 250 people will work at the mill and another 2,500 indirect jobs are expected on the supply and distribution chain.

More than €120 million have been spent on the project where construction has involved 50,000 tons of concrete pouring, 4,890 tons of steel structure and 7,641 tons of machinery installation, said the IRNA report, adding that the entire mill covers an area of 612 hectares to the northwest of Baft.

This November 11, 2019 photo released by the office of the Iranian president shows a view to the production facilities at the newly-opened Baft Steel, a mill located in the Baft region in the southeastern Kerman province.
The opening of the mill comes amid intensive efforts to tap into Iran’s massive deposits of metals as the government seeks to offset the impacts of the American sanctions on revenues derived from the sale of oil.

Iran is currently among the 10 leading producers of steel in the world. International surveys have shown that the growth of steel output in Iran for the past three years has outpaced a global rate of 3.5 percent. That has come despite a direct ban imposed by Washington on the country’s trade of metals since May this year.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/11/11/610949/Iran-steel-mill-inauguration-Kerman-Baft

 

[SubWater]

 

[Indos]

Indonesia need to learn from Iran on how to compete with Chinese steel.

 

[SubWater]

Indonesia need to learn from Iran on how to compete with Chinese steel.

Probably you could not, Iran have both cheap energy and iron ore.

 

[Indos]

Probably you could not, Iran have both cheap energy and iron ore.

Does your major steel company own by the state or it is a privately own ?

Indonesia state own steel company (Krakatau Steel) stated loss revenue since we sign free trade agreement with China, and we are still struggling now to compete with them, the situation is much better when we have high tariff for imported steel.

 

[SubWater]

Does your major steel company own by the state or it is a privately own ?

Indonesia state own steel company (Krakatau Steel) stated loss revenue since we sign free trade agreement with China, and we are still struggling now to compete with them, the situation is much better when we have high tariff for imported steel.

Mostly own by government

 

[SubWater]

News / Economy
Iran’s crude steel production surges by %5 year-on-year in October
Thursday, 12 December 2019 3:56 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 12 December 2019 4:02 PM ]

Iran has seen its crude steel production surge by 5 percent year-on-year in late October.
Iran has increased production of various types of steel, including the crude steel, between late March and late November this year compared to the similar period in 2018 despite sanctions imposed by the United States that have specifically targeted Iran’s production and trade of metals.

Iran’s ministry of industry issued a report on Thursday showing that production of crude steel, including blooms, billets, and slabs, had increased by five percent in the eight-month period ending on November 21 to reach a total of 17.424 million tons.

The report said that mills across Iran had produced 13.556 million tons of various steel products, including bars, rods, profiles, sheets and plates, an increase of seven percent compared to the March-November period in 2018, when output stood at 12.635 million tons.

It said production of direct reduced iron, also known as sponge iron, had reached 18.552 million tons in late November, up seven percent compared to the previous year.


Iran steel output outpaces global growth despite sanctions
Iran says steel output surges by around six percent between March and September.
The statistics are the latest to prove that Iran’s metals sector is booming despite a series of bans imposed by Washington since May this year seeking to hamper the country’s efforts to develop the steel mills and make them more export-oriented.

Iran has stated that the sanctions have failed to affect plans for increased output as the country seeks to improve its position as a major steel producer in the world.

Output of various steel products was down year-on-year over the summer months and before the government imposed a harsh tariff on exports of raw iron.

That allowed major steel mills in central and southern Iran to increase production and think of better markets for exports.

 

[SubWater]

News / Economy / Editor's Choice
Iran says steel industry growing after US turns up sanctions heat
Wednesday, 25 December 2019 11:14 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 25 December 2019 11:41 AM ]

Iran’s steel industry is export-oriented, but it does not depend on foreign technology.
Iran’s industrial metals, specifically steel, are the latest target in the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign, but officials say the sector is unfazed and keeps growing.

Earlier this month, the US government launched the latest salvo in the campaign as it warned against exports of steel-making materials to Iran.

The US Department of State cautioned that those involved in transfers or exports to Iran of graphite electrodes and needle coke, which are essential materials for Iran's steel industry, were at risk of sanctions regardless of their nationality or location.

Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Reza Rahmani put the damper on Washington’s haughty grandstanding, saying Iranian producers had obtained the technology to make graphite electrodes.

“In the steel field, we identified the production of graphite electrodes as a chokehold and produced it domestically,” Rahmani said last week.


Iran says sanctions have lost steam, economy recovering
Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Reza Rahmani says the impact from US sanctions has bottomed out and the Iranian economy is showing signs of turning around.
Graphite electrodes are used to melt scrap in electric arc furnaces to produce new steel. Needle coke is used as a key material for graphite electrodes in an electric arc furnace.

Iran is a leading producer of steel in the world, with officials saying exports continue despite the US sanctions.

The country plans to raise steel output to 55 million tonnes a year by 2025, of which 20 to 25 million tonnes would be earmarked for export.

Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Jafar Serqini said Wednesday Iran has currently 35 million tonnes of steel production capacity.

Steel exports will exceed 11 million tonnes this year, up 30 percent from 8.5 million tonnes last year, Tasnim news agency quoted him as saying. “This shows that Iran's steel industry is rapidly moving forward.”

According to Serqini, several steel units with an overall capacity of 10 million tonnes are currently being built with above 50 percent of physical progress, while another 10 million tonnes of capacity has been defined to be established.

“All these efforts are aimed at reaching the target of 55 million tonnes of steel in the 20-year vision plan,” he said.

For the past three to four years, steel production growth in Iran has always been higher than the global average, according to Serqini.

Steel output is expected to hit 28 million tonnes this year in March, when the current Persian year concludes, head of Iran’s largest holding in metals sector known as IMIDRO Khodadad Gharibpour has said.

It shows the sector – 10 percent of Iran’s export economy - is weathering the headwinds of the most intensive US sanctions which were unleashed in May when President Donald Trump targeted the Islamic Republic’s export revenues from its industrial metals.

At the time, Trump put world nations on notice against allowing Iranian steel and other metals into their ports, saying it would no longer be tolerated.

The US State Department imposed new sanctions on Iran’s biggest airline and its shipping network this month.

"US persons will be prohibited from engaging in transactions involving Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) or E-Sail, including transactions for the sale of agricultural commodities, food, medicine, or medical devices,” the Treasury’s guidelines on Iran sanctions read.

"In addition, non-US persons that knowingly engage in certain transactions with IRISL or E-Sail, even for the sale to Iran of agricultural commodities, food, medicine, or medical devices, risk exposure to sanctions under additional authorities,” it added.

Brian Hook, the State Department’s Iran envoy, said in a statement the US was now turning to “all remaining sources of export revenue, including from petrochemicals and metals that are subject to US sanctions”.

According to US financial new provider Bloomberg, the measures marked the next phase of Trump’s bid to squeeze Iran’s economy.


New sanctions to ban humanitarian trade with Iran: US Treasury
The US has said that newly announced anti-Iran sanctions will ban humanitarian trade with the country.
The Trump administration claims it has already slashed Iran's oil exports to a trickle, but the Iranian economy is chugging along, much to the chagrin of American leaders who thought the country would come apart if squeezed very hard.

Iran’s steel industry is export-oriented, but it does not depend on foreign technology, with officials saying the zero to 100 of a steel mill can now be designed and built in the country.

Even before the US sanctions, Iran’s steel exports faced a hostile terrain in Europe where the bloc’s executive body, the European Commission, levied trade tariffs against Iranian products.

Still, there is a buoyant domestic market where more than 50 industries in Iran are linked to the construction industry which uses steel as a basic ingredient.

Steel is also the key component in Iran’s automotive industry which is the largest in the Middle East and North Africa. Iran further has a massive oil and gas industry and a sprawling transportation and water supply network.

On the export front, China holds the key to the growth of Iran’s metals industry. The Asian powerhouse is the world’s biggest steelmaker and consumer of iron ore.

“Should China ignore these sanctions, the impact would be almost nil. Iran is cooperating with China as part of the Belt and Road Initiative and this would further strengthen ties between the nations,” Tyler Broda, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, has told Financial Times.

Iran used to export 23 to 25 million tonnes of iron ore a year, but much of it is now directed to the value-added production chain in the country.

“Iron ore exports will not exceed 5 million tonnes this year and the rest will be converted into steel and then exported,” Serqini said on Wednesday.