Iran has risen its steel production output by more than 9 percent, the World Steel Association (WSA) announced, adding that the country is now the world’s 15th steel producer. According to the WSA’s latest report, Iran’s steel production output hit 14.463mln tons in 2012, showing a 9.6-percent growth in comparison with the year before. Among 62 world major steel producers, Iran jumped two steps higher and became the world’s 15th steel producer in 2012, the report said. Iran ranked above UK, Spain and Canada.
Last month, Managing Director of Mobarakeh Steel Company Mohammad Massoud Sameenejad announced that Iran “is the biggest steel producer in the Middle East and North Africa”. “The WSA has named Iran as the biggest producer of steel in the Middle East and Africa in the same period,” Sameenejad said in December. Elaborating on his company’s share in Iran’s steel production, he said that Mobarakeh Steel Company produced 46 percent of Iran’s steel output in the 10 months of 2012.
“Despite the intensified sanctions during the last two years, the capacity of Iran’s steel production has increased 5mln tons and we will be completely self-sufficient in the steel industry in the next three years,” Vice-President of Iran’s Steel Association Hamidreza Taherizadeh said in July.