Iran exported 35 percent more of its steel products in the calendar month to late December compared to the similar month in 2019, shows a report, as the country’s trade of lucrative metals starts rebounding after months of reduced activity because of the pandemic.

The official IRNA news agency said in a Tuesday report that steel exports had increased to over 0.721 million metric tons for the month from November 21 to December 20.

The report studied exports by a total of 13 Iranian steel mills for a wide range of products, including ingots.

It said the surge in December had come against the backdrop of a fall recorded in exports year on year in the nine months to late December.

The 13 steel makers shipped more than 4.768 million tons of products over the nine-month period, a reduction of 13 percent compared to the similar period in 2019, showed the study.

However, it said shipments had started to increase in volume terms in recent months amid a relative ease of restrictions imposed at borders in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Steel billet exports from Iran surged by more than 500 percent in the month to late December while mills continued to ship higher volumes of wires and patterned hot-rolled coils compared to the initial nine months of 2019.

The report said Iran would be able to maintain annual steel exports flat at 10 million tons for the year to March 2021.

Iran is currently the 10th leading steel producer in the world based on the volume of output. A government vision plan for 2025 states that output should reach 55 million tons a year with nearly a third aimed at export markets.