Iranian mining companies boosted production of concentrate partially supported by favourable conditions on export.
It was also driven by the growing need of raw materials in Iran, taking into account the continuous increase in crude steel output.
Iranian iron ore producers managed to ramp up concentrate production in the first four months of the current Iranian year by 28.3% year-on-year to 12.44 million t.
According to Iran’s customs statistics, total export of iron ore products was around 5.5 million t.
“Concentrate production growth happened mainly owing to exports as well as commissioning of new plants in order to facilitate completion of the steel value chain from the mine to the end product,” Keyvan Jafari Tehrani, Member of the Board and Head of International Affairs at IROPEX, told Metal Expert.
It is worth mentioning that during the reported period average price for iron ore with 62% Fe content in the global market accounted for $65/t CFR China, which played into suppliers’ hands.
For example, the major Iranian producer, Gol-e-Gohar Company, which takes the largest share of total output and traditionally exports about one fourth of its volumes benefited from exports, which resulted in higher production (+27.5%).
Moreover, Iran keeps stepping up crude steel production, which leads to higher demand for raw materials, pellet in particular.
Total pellet output surge by 23.4% y-o-y to 10.3 million t to cover growing needs of local steelmakers, which produced 5.43 million t of crude steel (14.2% up) during the reported period, according to IMIDRO.
Notably, Iranian miners are keen in pellet exports as well, but cannot use their potential amid 15% export duty.
Iran: iron ore production in the first four months of Iranian year, thousand t
Source: Metal Expert
