Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran shares 60 percent of Iraq's cement market, Abdolreza Sheykhan, secretary of the Iran's Cement Producers Association said.
He added that finding new markets is a priority for his association, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported Feb. 14.
Sheykhan further said that the Islamic Republic is studying African markets for cement export.
Iran exported over 15.9 million metric tons of cement and clinker in the first ten months of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21, 2014-Jan 21), Sheykhan noted.
He forecasted that the figure will reach 18 million metric tons by the end of current fiscal year (March 21).
Alongside with Iraq, which is the major importer of Iran's cement the Islamic Republic also exports cement to Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and Central Asian countries as well as Gulf states, he added.
Iran produced over 51.6 million metric tons of cement in the first nine months of the current Iranian fiscal year. More than 4.74 million metric tons of cement was produced only in the ninth calendar month (Nov. 22-Dec. 21, 2014).
Iran's cement output amounted to 69.68 million metric tons in the twelve-month time span, which ended on March 20, 2014.
Some 71.904 million metric tons of clinker was also produced in the mentioned period.
Iran exported 18.812 million metric tons of cement and clinker in the mentioned 12-month period, which shows 37.8 percent increase compared to its preceding year.
Cement accounted for 14.348 million metric tons of the mentioned amount.
Iran with total production of 65 million metric tons ranked as the world's third largest cement producer in 2012.
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