TEHRAN- Production of steel products in Iran hit over 8.439 million tons during the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-October 21), which was four percent higher than the figure of the same period of time in the past year.

Production of the mentioned products also rose nine percent in the seventh month of this year, from that of the previous year.

Over 1.173 million tons of steel products were produced in the seventh month of the present year.

In a bid to prevent the exports of unprocessed minerals, creating more value-added and meeting the requirements of domestic producers for the raw materials, Iran has levied a 25-percent duty on the exports of raw minerals (especially iron ore) since late September 2019.

Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry believes that the duty is going to encourage the production of more processed minerals such as pellets and concentrate instead of selling the raw minerals.

The ministry has announced that production of iron ore concentrate in Iran reached 47.306 million tons in the previous Iranian calendar year, registering a four-percent rise compared to the preceding year.

Iran’s export of steel products in the past Iranian calendar year rose 27 percent compared to its preceding year.

As reported, the country’s major steel producers managed to export about 7.33 million tons of the products in the previous year.

Some 10 years ago Iran exported more than 20 million tons of unprocessed iron ore and the figure fell to a maximum of six million tons last year.

As the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) has announced, Iran’s annual steel ingot production is planned to increase 3.2 million tons in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021).

The country has defined 16 development projects in the steel sector to boost the output of steel products by 17.3 million tons in five years.

MA/MA