TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran has decreased its raw iron exports nearly by six times in seven years to help a booming steel industry whose output capacity has reached about 37 million metric tons a year.
According to caretaker of Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade Ja’far Sarqeini, the annual iron ore exports from Iran had declined to four million tons this year from 22-23 million tons recorded between 2008 and 2013, Press TV reported on Saturday.
He said decreased exports of raw minerals have helped Iran become a global powerhouse for production of metals.
The official said steel exports from Iran topped 12 million tons per annum (mtpa) over the last calendar year ending March 2019 while imports remained at levels between 200,000 and 300,000 tons.
That comes as Iran was a net steel importer in 2012 with over 6.5 million tons of imports recorded that year against 1.5 million tons it shipped to other countries.
Sarqeini, a long-serving government official overseeing the metals and mining sector, said Iran was one of the few countries in the world in 2019 whose steel output growth of 6.5 percent outpaced a global production rise of 3.5 percent.
He said Iran, currently the 10th leading steel producer in the world, eyes to increase its output capacity to 55 million tons a year by 2025.
“We have currently 37 mtpa of steel production capacity and another 20 million is being implemented,” said Sarqeini.
The caretaker minister said steel industry had become fully indigenized in Iran and Iranian mills have obtained highly-advanced technologies like PERED® to convert iron oxides to reduced products that are suitable for steel making.
- source : Iran Daily
