Steel Producers Association Head: Energy Shortfalls Have Cost Iran's Steel Industry $18 Billion in Lost Output Over Four to Five Years

Bahram Sobhani, head of the Iran Steel Producers Association, said on Monday, 19 Mordad 1405 (10 August 2026), at the "Steel and Iron Ore Industry in Transformation" conference hosted by the Donya-e-Eqtesad media group, that Iran's steel industry has lost about $18 billion in potential output value over the past four to five years because of power and natural gas shortages. He said that with a stable energy supply, the steel chain's annual foreign currency earnings could exceed $20 billion.

Sobhani said Iran, with output of about 32 million tonnes of steel, has at times ranked tenth globally, while Turkey produces about 38 million tonnes and South Korea produces more than that. He put the steel chain's share of GDP at about 5 percent and its share of national employment at about 8 percent, and said profit margins at major listed steelmakers fell from about 33 percent to 6 percent over the past six years. He said the industry consumes about 5,300 megawatts of electricity, equal to 6.9 percent of national power consumption, and that simultaneous or alternating power and gas shortages leave much of its production capacity idle, since direct reduction and electric arc furnaces cannot substitute for one another.