Minister of Industries, Mines and Trade Mehdi Ghazanfari said the country will become the largest producer of crude steel in the Middle East and north of the Persian Gulf in view of planned investment in the sector. Stating that Iran’s annual steel output stands at 14 million tons, Ghazanfari announced on Friday the plan to add about 20 million tons to the concentrate and pellet production capacity of the Iran’s eastern province of Khorasan Razavi, which will emerge as one of the country’s steel production hubs, Press TV reported. Concentrates and pellets are raw materials used in steel manufacturing.
Ghazanfari further said that for the time being, Iran is ranked as the second largest economy in the Middle East and North Africa in terms of gross domestic product (GDP). The minister also said the country is among the world’s 10 leading mineral-rich countries. Iran exports its industrial and mineral products to 159 countries, including Iraq, China, the United Arab Emirates, India and Afghanistan. On May 11, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated an iron ore concentrate production line at the Sangan-Khaf iron ore mine in Khorasan Razavi province, where he stresssed that Iran’s steel production should reach 48 million tons in a 4-5-year period.
According to the World Steel Association, Iran was the second leading steel producer in the Middle East in 2010 after Turkey. Iran’s main steel mills are located in Isfahan and Khuzestan provinces. The major raw steel factories in Iran are the Mobarakeh Steel Mill, with approximately 47 percent of the market share, the Khuzestan Steel Company with about 23 percent, the Isfahan Foundry with about 20 percent, and the Iran National Steel Industries Group with approximately 10 percent of the market share.