Iran says steel industry growing after US turns up sanctions heat

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.

Earliest 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.

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 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 have 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.

SS