Iran's steel production capacity surpassed 31 million tons in the previous calendar year, which ended March 20, deputy Industry, Mine, and Trade Minister Seyyed Alireza Shoja'ei said on Friday.

"The country's steel products output stood at 17.4 million tons in the mentioned period," the IRNA News Agency quoted Shoja'ei as saying.

He also said that the country's cement production capacity reached 80 million tons in the previous year from the previous figure of 70.2 million tons.

Iranian Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Vajihollah Ja'fari said June 30 that the country plans to boost its crude steel production capacity up to 24 million tons by the end of the current calendar year (March 20, 2014).

Iran's crude steel production capacity stood at 500,000 tons in 1978 but currently is around 20 million tons, the IRNA News Agency quoted Ja'fari as saying.

By inaugurating of some steel production projects in Gilan, Yazd, Esfahan, and Fars some 4 million tons would be added to the country's total crude steel production capacity, he explained. Ja'fari said last April that the country's annual crude steel output is projected to reach 55 million tons by 2025.

The latest statistics released by the World Steel Association shows that Iran has produced 6.077 million tons of crude steel in the first five months of 2013.

Iran's crude steel output in May stood at 1.287 million tons, which is 3.7 per cent more than the same period previous year, the IRNA News Agency reported.

The country's production growth in May was more than other major producers of the world including India , the USA , France , Germany , Italy , Mexico , Britain , Russia , and Ukraine.

Some 658 million tons of crude steel was produced across the globe in the first five months of the current year. The figure shows 2.1 per cent increase compared to the same period of time previous year. Iran will become one of the world's biggest steel exporters by March 2016, Industry, Mine and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari said in May 2011.