BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 13. A new steelmaking plant is being built in the Ghaenat Steel Complex in South Khorasan Province (north-east of Iran), which will have an annual capacity of 800,000 tons, Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Reza Movasaghinia said, Trend reports.
The plant is scheduled to start operating in the current Iranian year (March 21, 2023 through March 19, 2024), and that it has a total budget of 75 trillion rials (about $1.78 billion) allocated for its construction.
According to Movasaghinia, the plant is considered one of the main steel producers in the country, and it has achieved 87 percent of its physical construction so far. The plant plans to boost its steel output to 1 million tons per year in the next phase.
The deputy minister said that the plant will generate 2,650 jobs annually, which is very important in the current economic situation.
Meanwhile, Iran produced 13 million tons of raw steel for during the first five months of the current Iranian year (March 21 through August 22, 2023), which is an increase of 3 percent, compared with the same time last year.
At present, Iran's annual steel production capacity is around 40 million tons. Iran plans to increase the figure to 55 million tons by 2025.
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