Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 6
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: High production costs have closed 65 percent of iron ore mines in Iran.
Mehrdad Akbarian, head of the union of Iranian iron ore producers and exporters, said that production of iron ore in Iran costs three times the average global costs, Iran's Fars news agency reported on March 6.
Each ton of iron ore costs $15-20 to be produced in Ian, while the figure is $7 in Australia, he noted.
He added that mineral exports account for about 1.5 percent of Iran's non-oil exports. The country exported 22 million metric tons of iron ore in the past Iranian fiscal year, which ended on March 20, 2014, he said.
The figure is expected to fall to about 15 million metric tons this year, he said, adding that iron ore was sold at about $90 per tons over the past two years, but its price is currently about $40 per ton.
Iran's Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said on Jan. 27 that modifying crude steel import tariff is being discussed by the administration with the goal of supporting domestic producers.
He said that at present, the country has a capacity to produce 70 million metric tons of iron ore, 30 million metric tons of concentrates, 22 million metric tons of pellets, 21 million metric tons of sponge iron, and 24 million metric tons of steel ingots.
By Iranian year 1398 (March 2019-March 2020), the country will produce 60 million metric tons of concentrates, 65 million metric tons of pellets, 43 million metric tons of sponge iron, and 49 million metric tons of steel ingots, he added.
Iran ranked first in the Middle East and 14th in the world in terms of steel production in 2014, the World Steel Association (WSA) said in a recent report.
Iran produced 16.331 million metric tons of crude steel in 2014, a 5.9 percent rise from 15.422 million metric tons in 2013.
Iran exported 1.33 million metric tons of crude steel since the beginning of current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2014), witnessing 80 metric tons rise from 1.25 million metric tons in the same period of time last year, according to Iran's Steel Producers Association Chairman Bahram Sobhani.
Edited by CN