Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.10/ Trend F.Milad/
Iran cement production surpassed 49.14 million tons in the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year which began on March 20.
The figure shows a six per cent increase in comparison to the same period in the previous year, the IRIB News Agency reported.
Iran also exported over 9.38 million tons of cement and clinker in the aforementioned period, showing a 30 per cent growth compared to the same period last year.
Some 8.246 million tons of cement and 1.136 million tons of clinker were exported during the same period.
Iraq, Central Asia, UAE and Afghanistan were the main customers for the exported cement and clinker, the IRNA News Agency reported.
Iran's cement production capacity currently stands at 86 million tons, the Iranian president said last week.
Iran currently produces some 76 million tons of cement per year, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at the inauguration ceremony of some projects in Isfahan.
"Six year ago Iran was dependent on importing cement and nobody would believe that one day the country could become an exporter in the field, but as we see today, Iran has become one of the world's greatest cement producers and exporters," he added.
It was reported on November 6 that Iran's cement output amounted to some 43.28 million tons in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year, which began March 20.
The amount shows a 4.74 per cent increase in comparison to the same period in the previous year, the IRIB News Agency reported.
Iran with a total production of 66 million tons ranked as the world's fourth largest cement producer in 2011, the managing director of Fars & Khuzestan Cement Company said on October 24.
The world's total cement production in 2011 stood at 3.6 billion tons, the IRIB News Agency quoted Esfandiar Salarvand as saying.
Salarvand went on to note that Iran plans to export 12 million tons of cement in the current calendar year.
Industry, Mine and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari also said in August that the country's cement production capacity will reach 110 million tons by 2015.