Azernews.Az

Seyed Rasoul Khalife Soltani said on July 20 that Iran's average steel production growth was around seven percent in the first four months of 2014.

It is while the global average was around 2.5 percent in the mentioned period, he said, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on July 20.

"Such an increase in Iran's steel production rate has been unprecedented," Khalife Soltani explained.

The World Steel Association said in its latest press release that Iran produced 5.015 million tons of crude steel in the first four months of 2014.

The figure shows 5 percent increase compared to the same period previous year, Iran's Eghtesadonline news website reported on May 23.

The country's crude steel output in April amounted to 1.285 million tons, which is 3 percent less than March.

The world' total crude steel output in April was around 137 million tons, which is 1.7 percent more than the same month previous year.

Iran's crude steel production reached 15.421 million tons in 2013, which is 6.6 per cent more than its preceding year.

Iran was the world's 15th biggest producer of steel in 2013.

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