Tehran, Iran, Feb. 26
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad – Trend:
Iranian cement producers are apparently planning to export cement to Africa after the country experienced difficulties in the Central Asian market, a major producer told Trend.
“We are planning to offer gray cement in the African market at suitable prices over the next [fiscal] year [starting March 20]. However, the transportation costs still appear as a serious issue,” Farhad Nikkhah, a senior official with Saveh Cement Company, told Trend.
According to the producer, some Central Asian countries have introduced new regulations on import of cement, which has led to a rise in the costs.
“New restrictions in some Central Asian countries have caused a rise in the costs of exports to those countries,” he said.
Speaking about the country’s total output of cement, he said the industry over the last fiscal year produced about 56 million tons of cement, of which 10 million tons were exported.
He added that the country‘s production of cement has already surpassed its needs and that is why the producers operate at only 70 percent of their nominal capacity.
The latest data released by the Iranian Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade reveals that the country’s cement industry witnessed a decline in its performance as the cement output over the first eight months of the current fiscal year (started March 20, 2017) registered a fall by 4.8 percent year-on-year.
Iranian cement factories produced 37.69 million tons of cement during the 8-month period (March 20-Nov. 21, 2017).
On a monthly basis, 4.691 million tons of cement were produced in the eighth Iranian calendar month (Oct. 21-Nov. 21, 2017), 4.8 percent more compared to the preceding month.