ISFAHAN, Isfahan Province Minister of Mines and Metals Es'haq Jahangiri said here Thursday that Iran's steel industries should strive to arrive at technological breakthroughs for better quality products in order to successfully compete at international markets.

Jahangiri said after visiting Mobarakeh Steel Complex of Isfahan that the countries, not too far from Iran industrially, are looking for new breakthroughs and Iran's inaction in that respect would hinder its industrial progress.

He said a galvanized color sheet production line is to open at Mobarakeh Steel Complex to serve as a national asset for development of other industrial sectors and the steel production industry.

He added that the markets 800 million tons of steel and that Iran can win the market easily by its high quality products.

The minister regretted that over the past 20 to 30 years a sort of technological revolution was witnessed among groups of the developing countries whereas Iran, he said, failed to keep pace with certain other development countries.

He said certain Southeast Asian states had before that revolution had a meager per capita income share.

There are energy sources and raw materials, serving as potential for industrial development in Iran but many developing states lack them, said the minister, adding that Iran's production is less than theirs.

Meanwhile, director of Mobarakeh Steel Complex Mahmoud Eslami aid that his complex's steel ingot and steel slab production had showed eight and 14 percent rise respectively in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (starting March 20) compared to the figures over the corresponding period the year before.

Eslami said that his complex plans to raise the quality of its products so as to win market reputation.

(IRNA)