Iran to export 18.5 million tons of cement

Azerbaijan, Baku, Jun.9/ Trend R.Zamanov/ Iran plans to export 18.5 million tons of cement in the current Iranian calendar year, which ended March 20, 2014, Mohammad Fatemian, an official with the Industry, Mine, and Trade ministry said. The amount would be 4.9 million tons more than previous year's figure, the IRNA News Agency quoted Fatemian as saying. Iran's cement output in the first calendar month of the current year (March 21 - April 20) stood at 4.94 million tons. Some 6.27 million tons of clinker was also produced in the mentioned period, he said. Iran exported 1,076,063 tons of cement in the first calendar month of current year. The amount shows 28.4 per cent increase in comparison to the same period of time previous year, the IRNA News Agency reported. Iran also exported some 282,149 tons of clinker in the mentioned period, which is 11.8 per cent more than previous year. Iran's cement and clinker exports stood at over 13.648 million tons in the previous calendar year, which ended March 20. The country exported over 11.85 million tons of cement and 1.79 million tons of clinker in the mentioned period, the IRNA News Agency reported. Iran exported cement to 24 countries including Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Oman, India, and China in the past Iranian year. Iran produced 75 million tons of cement in previous year. The country's cement production capacity stands at 80 million tons. Iran with total production of 65 million tons ranked as the world's third largest cement producer in 2012. Tehran's cement production accounted for 1.7 per cent of world's total output. Abdolreza Sheykhan, an official with Iran's Cement Producers Association, said in February that the country plans to increase its cement output up to 85 million tons by the end of the current Iranian Calendar year (March 19, 2014). Sheykhan also expressed hope that Iran's cement exports reach 18-20 million tons in the current calendar ear. Industry, Mine and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari said in August, 2012 that the country's cement production capacity will reach 110 million tons by 2015. The head of Iran's Road, Housing & Urban Development Research Center, Seyyed Mahmoud Fatemi-Oghada, said on May 1 that Iran's per capita cement consumption stands at 600 kilograms per year. The figure is 3 times more than global per capita consumption, the IRNA News Agency quoted Fatemi-Oghada as saying. Iran's high rate is because of the country's wrong cement consumption pattern, he explained. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az