Steel is the backbone of the industrialized world and has always been a centerpiece in Iran�s economic growth. Despite the disruptive impacts of US measures against the industry -- the latest of which was one of the last moves the Trump administration made against Tehran -- �Iran�s steel production is still among the top in the world.

Efficient in production and application, steel is the material to build the future, and Iran was ranked world�s third top steel producer in terms of production growth, only after Uzbekistan and Moldova that have quite smaller outputs.

While the average global growth in steel production was negative in 2020 -- touching near -1 percent, Iran marked a 13.4-percent rise in the sector. Uzbekistan�s steel production grew by 42.6 percent, and Moldova�s output increased by 18.7 percent, Tehran Times cited the latest report the World Steel Association (WSA) on Friday.

According to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, the country produced 29.03 million tons of steel during 2020 compared to the last year�s figure of nearly 25.6 million tons.

Meanwhile, the global association states that crude steel production in the world fell 0.09 percent to stand at 1.829 billion tons in 2020. According to the WSA figures, Iran was the 10th top steel producer of the world in 2020, a similar standing to the past two years.

Iran produced 2.6 million tons of crude steel in December 2020, which was 19.2 percent higher than the figure for December 2019, the report confirmed. The average global production growth in the mentioned month was 5.8 percent.

As the world's top producer, China produced 1.052 billion tons of crude steel in 2020, up 5.2 percent compared to 2019. India and Japan ranked second and third in the world with of 99.5 million and 83.1 million tons of production, respectively. The production of South Korea, Japan, and India as the leaders of the industry, however, decreased by 6 percent, 16.2 percent, and 10.6 percent, respectively.