Iran produced 1.302 million tons of crude steel in July 2013, up 16 percent compared to July 2012, the World Steel Association said in its latest press release. The country’s total output in the first seven months of 2013 amounted to 8.662 million tons, the Fars News Agency reported.



World crude steel production for the 64 countries reporting to the WSA was 132.325 million tons in July 2013, an increase of 2.7 percent compared to July 2012.



World crude steel production in the first seven months of 2013 was 903.843 million tons, an increase of 2 percent compared to the same period of 2012.



Asia showed an increase of 4.9 percent while the EU producers recorded a -6.0 percent growth in the mentioned period of time. China’s crude steel production for June 2013 was 65.47 million tons, up by 6.2 percent compared to July 2012.



Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 9.297 million tons of crude steel in July 2013. South Korea’s crude steel production was 5.553 million tons. Iran’s crude steel production reached 14.89 million tons in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20.



Iran plans to increase its annual steel output to 55 million tons by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2015).