Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.10 / Trend F.Mehdi/
Iran produced over 25.45 million tons of iron ore in the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 20, 2012, showing a 9.6 percent increase compared to the same period in the previous year, the Tasnim News Agency reported.
The iron ore output stood at 2.15 million tons in the tenth calendar month of the solar year (December 21, 2012-January 19, 2013), according to the report.
Head of the Iran Iron Sellers Union Mohammad Azad said on November 27, 2012 that some 23 million tons of steel and iron ore products were used domestically last year.
The deputy industry minister Reza Fatemi-Amin said on September 9, 2012 that Iran will no longer need to import steel products next year once the underway steel production projects come on stream.
Fatemi-Amin added that some 7 million tons of crude steel is imported annually.
On September 4, 2012, Iran's Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mehdi Ghazanfari said that a number of steel projects with the total output of 12 million tons are underway.
Iran will become one of the world's main steel exporters by March 2016, Ghazanfari said in May 2011.