The value of Iran’s steel exports hit $3.09 billion in the first six months of the country’s calendar year (March 20 – September 21), marking a 16% drop compared to that of last year’s corresponding year.
According to a report by Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency, the Iranian steel exports in the mentioned period weighed 13.897 million tons, which reflects a 2% year-on-year drop.
Few days earlier, the Iranian Steel Producers Association (ISPA) issued a report which suggested a major decline in Iran’s steel output in the first half of the country’s calendar year.
The report attributed the drop in output to lower electricity supplies.
In August, Iran’s then Minister of Energy Ali-Akbar Mehrabian said that unprecedented heat had caused a 9% rise in the country’s electricity consumption as summer heat had reached record levels.
He said that 9% of 80,000 megawatts equals as much as 7,000 megawatts which would require $7 billion worth of investment in the power plant industry.
Iran is one of the top ten world suppliers of steel.