Baku, Azerbaijan, June 6
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Iran imports 500,000 tons of coal per year, Saeed Samadi, secretary of Iran Coal Association, told ILNA, Trend reports.
According to Samadi, with the commissioning of large open hearth furnaces, Iran's demand for coal will increase by about 3-4 million tons in the coming Iranian year (begins March 21, 2020).
He added that 1.5 million tons of coal are produced in Iran annually.
"The confirmed coal reserves of Iran equal 1.2 billion tons, and about 14 billion tons in terms of geological reserves. With these reserves, Iran can easily meet its needs," he said.
Noting that coal is the cheapest energy source in the world, the secretary pointed out that coal is used in the production of close to 90 percent of the world's steel, due to being comparably cheaper than oil products.
"Oil and gas products in Iran are highly subsidized. In no way can coal compete with oil products, and it is therefore considered a forgotten sphere," he said.
Samadi noted that the type of coal produced in Iran is coke and is used in steelmaking.
According to him, approximately 400,000 tons of coal (used for heating) are produced as well, but are exported due to not being demanded in the domestic market.
"About 430,000 tons of coal were exported last [Iranian] year (started 21 March 2018)" he said.