Mining News -The Middle East countries’ output totaled 3.262 million tonnes (Mt) during the month, which is considerably higher by 28.7% when compared with the corresponding month in 2017. The Middle East steel production had totaled only 2.534 Mt in March 2017.
The leading steel producer in the region was Iran. The country also featured in the world’s top ten steel producers list, being the tenth largest steel producer in the world in March 2018. Iran’s output totaled 2.350 Mt, accounting for nearly 72% of the total regional monthly output. The country’s production jumped higher significantly by almost 44% year-on-year from 1.635 Mt in March last year.
The other country to report rise in crude steel output was Saudi Arabia, whose output totaled 425,000 tonnes. The output rose sharply by 13% when compared with 376,000 tonnes output in March last year. On the other hand, the UAE and Qatar reported output decline during the month. The UAE’s output dropped by more than 12% from 282,000 tonnes in March last year to 248,000 tonnes in March 2018. Qatar recorded marginal decline by 0.4% year-on-year from 240,000 tonnes to 239,000 tonnes.
The regional output surged higher by 24.4% during the initial three-month period of the year. The first quarter output by the region totaled 9.403 Mt, as compared with 7.557 Mt in Jan-Mar ’17. Iran’s quarterly steel output surged 47%, whereas Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE reported year-on-year decline in Q1 2018 output.
The global crude steel production has surged 4% in March this year.