Middle Eastern crude steel production up 13% in January

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The region’s output totalled 2.316 million tonnes in the month, compared with 2.047 million tonnes a year before.

Iran recorded the highest crude steel production, with 1.366 million tonnes in January, up by 19.7% from the 1.141 million tonnes of the corresponding month in 2014.

Saudi Arabia ranked second, producing 550,000 tonnes of crude steel in January, a 1.3% increase from January 2014’s figure of 543,000 tonnes.

Production in the UAE totalled 224,000 tonnes in January, an increase of 42.7% on an annual basis from 157,000 tonnes in January 2014.

Qatar produced 176,000 tonnes of crude steel last month, a 14.5% decrease year-on-year from 176,000 tonnes, according to Worldsteel.