TEHRAN Iran climbed to the seventh place among the worlds top steel-producing countries in May, according to the World Steel Association (WSA).The latest report released by the WSA shows that Irans crude steel output has increased 8.8 percent in the mentioned month while the global average growth rate stood at 5.1 percent, IRIB reported.Based on the WSA data, Iran produced 3.3 million tons of crude steel in the mentioned month.The Islamic Republic stood in eighth place on the WSAs list of the worlds top steelmakers in April.As reported, the Islamic Republics steel production also registered a 2.2 percent growth in the first five months of 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year.Iran was ranked second among the worlds top steel producers in terms of production growth in the January-May period.WSA report says that the worlds 64 steel producers managed to produce 161.6 million tons of the commodity in May, 5.1 percent less than the figure for the previous years same period.According to the WSA report, China, India, Japan, the United States , and Russia were the worlds top steel producers respectively.Iran maintained its place as the worlds 10th biggest steel producer during the first five months of 2023, according to the WSA data.The Iranian steel industry has been constantly developing over the past years against all the pressures and obstacles created by outside forces like the United States sanctions and the coronavirus outbreak that has severely affected the performance of the worlds top producers.Back in February, the WSA reported that Irans crude steel production increased by eight percent in 2022 when the production by the worlds top 64 steelmakers declined by 4.2 percent.Iran was ranked first among the worlds top steel producers in terms of production growth in the previous year.EF/MA