Iran, South Korea to cooperate on steel production

Deputy Minister of Industries Mehdi Karbasian said Iran and Korea are to cooperate in the construction of new steel production projects in Iranian Islands on the rims of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea.
Speaking in a meeting with Head of South Korean POSCO (Pohang Iron and Steel Company) Jin Sik Choi in Tehran on Saturday,  Karbasian, who heads the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), said that Iran-Korea cooperation in steel field will be along the Southern coasts of Iran, including in Chabahar, Bandar Abbas and Assalouyeh.
"Iran pursues steel projects aimed at achieving 55 million tons annual production by the year 2025," said Karbasian.
The top POSCO manager said that his multinational firm is ready to assist Iran in implementing its steep plants using the modern 'Finex' technology.
Jin Sik Choi said that POSCO has recently assembled a steel plant with nominal annual production capacity of two million tons and before that a steel factory with annual 1.5 million ton production, both using the Finex technology.
Last month, Head of Iran’s Steel Producers Association Bahram Sobhani said that Iran is aware of the advantages of accessing open seas and has a plan to turn certain ports on the rims of the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman into steel production hubs,
Sobhani said that some 1.33 million tons of steel were exported during the first three quarters of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-November 22), adding that coastal areas of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman would change into centers for steel production in a near future.
The official said that the amount of Iran’s steel exports stood at 1.25 million tons last year.
The World Steel Association (WSA) announced earlier that Iran with the production of nearly 1.45 million tons of raw steel in November stood 14th among the world industrial states.
In its latest report, the WSA said that the figure indicates a 6.1-percent growth compared with the corresponding figure of last year, which was 1.37mln tons.
It announced that the country still holds its former rank as the world’s 14th steel producer.
The association put Iran’s 11-month steel output in 2014 at 14.96mln tons, up by 6.4 percent year-on-year, which was 14.07mln tons.
The WSA estimated that total raw steel output of 65 countries in the same period amounted to 1.49bln tons, showing a 1.8-percent increase year-on-year.
According to the WSA report, the world’s top 10 steel producers in November included China (63.3mln tons), Japan (9.175mln tons), the US (7.2mln tons), India (6.89mln tons), South Korea (5.911mln tons), Russia (5.84mln tons), Germany (3.59mln tons), Turkey (2.79mln tons), Brazil (2.77mln tons) and Taiwan (1.9mln tons).