Platts - Khouzestan Steel Company has become Iran's largest exporter of steel by exporting 1.9 million mt of billet and slab in the Iranian year which ended on March 20, KSC sales deputy Bahman Tajalizadeh said Friday.

"Some 52% of the company's output was exported, a historical record for Iran's steel industry," Tajalizadeh said, adding: "The Mobarakeh Steel Co., Iran's largest producer, was previously its largest exporter of steel".

"We have regular exports to 13 countries now, some 50% of which are shipped to the MENA region, 40% to the Far East and around 10% to American countries," Tajalizadeh said.

"Asia is an important market for KSC. We have developed our export markets in Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia, as Chinese exports to this area decreased last year; around 800,000 mt of our products, including billet and slab, were shipped to these countries. We will also focus on the American market such Brazil and Canada in the current year," he said.

"Our export price is, on average, 15% higher than domestic market levels," he said, adding that "at the moment, we export billet for around $390/mt".

KSC produced 3.6 million mt of semi-finished products last year and plans to increase its capacity to five million mt/year within two years, then ramp up to 13.6 million mt/year by 2025, according to the company's strategic plan.

An Iranian steel specialist said the metal was Iran's largest export after oil, gas and petrochemicals, partly because of the slump in domestic construction. Exports were likely to rise in future as a result of broad government investment to increase Iran's steelmaking capacity to 55 million mt/year, and also because production costs at the majority of Iranian steelworks are internationally competitive as a result of low energy prices in the country.