Iranian long steel producer Khorasan Steel Co has started to export billet to the United Arab Emirates, according to the Iranian Steel Producers Association's website which quoted Khorasan's head of sales and export, Hamidreza Shenavaei.
The company shipped 1,200 mt of billet to the UAE and the exports will continue if the quality is accepted by the customer, Shenavaei said, according to the ISPA website.
Khorasan has crude steel output capacity of 1.4 million mt/year, after the completion in April of a second electric arc furnace-based steelworks.
Semi-finished product exports from Iran are expected to rise as soon as this month, the ISPA said after a meeting in Tehran this week.
"Several Iranian steel producers announced they have received some requests for export with reasonable tonnage and are negotiating for a stable and regular export, and we expect that export will increase from this month," Bahador Ahramian, one of the group's directors, was quoted as saying on the website. He added that Iranian exporters have agreed to coordinate to keep export pricing more stable.
Separately, Esfahan Steel's managing director, Ahmad Sadeghi, said Tuesday that the company would start regular exports of pig iron to Europe of up to 500,000 mt/year, as soon as it restarts its No. 1 blast furnace. The furnace has been idled for about two years because of low domestic demand.
Iranian producers exported 5.53 million mt last year, up 40.6%, according to the ISPA. This included 1.79 million mt of finished products, down 16% year on year, and 3.74 million mt of semi-finished products, up 108%.
