CRU: Iran vows steel production will continue after damage to mills

This item was first published by CRU. To learn about CRU’s global commodities research and analysis services, visit www.crugroup.com.

Steel output will carry on in Iran despite repeated US-Israeli air strikes on key industrial sites, including the Mobarakeh and Khuzestan steel companies, according to a senior Iranian industry official.

He was responding to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming the attacks had destroyed 70% of Iran’s steel production capacity.

Iran’s two largest steel plants, Mobarakeh and Khuzestan, were reported as saying it will take them months to restore their complexes to full production because of the damage they sustained.

But steel making in the country will not stop thanks to the sector’s dispersed capacity and deep localisation, Rouhollah Latifi, spokesperson for the Trade Promotion Commission at the industry, mining and trade ministry, was reported as saying.

There is a strong upstream supply of iron ore, pellets and concentrate allowing producers to move output across sites and keep production lines running. “They will not remain idle,” he added.

The air attacks have damaged a power substation and alloy production line at Mobarakeh Steel, while warehouses at Khuzestan Steel were hit, Latifi said.