October 08, 2021
The Iranian government, which has a goal of making Iran the sixth biggest steel producer in the world, has been boasting that steel production rose 10 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, but is trying to ignore the fact that steel output has actually fallen by half in just the past three months.
The regime propaganda apparatus has been lauding the constant growth in steel output early this year, but Reza Shahrestani of the steel producers’ association says that is simply not true for this summer.
The government filed statistics with the World Steel Association that said steel output reached 17.8 million tons in the first half of 2021, registering a growth of 9.9 percent compared to same period last year.
But Shahrestani said output was actually down by 50 percent over the last three months. The cause is the reduction of electricity supplies to steel plants so that households don’t suffer even more and longer blackouts.
Shahrestani said the government has also restricted steel exports in order to first meet demands by domestic consumers before exporting.
The Financial Times said power supplies have also been cut to the cement industry, leading to major shortages of both steel and cement and restricting the construction industry.
Iran’s goal is to more than double steel output to 55 million tons by 2025 a goal that will require 5,000 more megawatts of electricity, or almost 10 percent more than the country is able to generate now.