Prof. Keyvan Jafari Tehrani ;Head of International Affairs of Iron Ore Association of Iran (IROPEX), pointed out the statistics released by Iran Customs Administration in connection with the foreign trade during the first 4-month of the Iranian year 1395 (from March 21st through July 21st, 2016) and stated: “the statistics show that Iran steel industry has performed above the expectations and has exported more than 2 Million Tons which means more than 77% increase in comparison with the same period of the preceding year. By taking into account of different types of steel products, we exported 2.52 Million Tons steel amounting to USD 124,276,000/-. The export of steel products in 4th Iranian month of this year (June 21st – July 21st, 2016) has been 521,400 Ton which shows 86% growth in comparison with the same month in the past year and is above the average of the 4 first months of the year. Mobarakeh Steel Company gained the first rank which is followed by Hormozgan Steel Company. The planned export for the current Iranian year 1395 (March 21st, 2016 – March 20th, 2017) has been 6 Million Ton and we can say that the same will be fully achieve able based on statistics announced by Iran Customs Administration.”
He stipulated that: “the production statistics show that the copper concentrate, iron ore concentrate and molybdenum production have taken the upper ranks. In the other word, Iran is taken steps forward for production and export of concentrate of base metals because they will result in more profit and added value.”
The Head of International Affairs of Iran Iron Ore Association added: “according to the statistics, the production of copper concentrate has been more than 371,000 Ton during the first 4-month of the current Iranian year, which shows 22.84% increase in comparison with the same period of the preceding year. The iron ore concentrate production amounts to 9.6 Million Tons with 15.84% increase in comparison with the same period of the preceding year. The production of iron ore fines & lump during the same period was 2.14 Million Tons with 16.55% decrement. This statistics also shows that we have had a 3.9% increase in sponge iron production and produced 5.5 Million Tons ton but the pellets and billet productions have been 7.9 Million Tons and 4.75 Million Tons with 0.37% and 3.33% decrease, respectively in comparison with the same statistics of the preceding year. As some new pelletizing Plants will be commissioned this Iranian year and this will result in increase in pellets production in the current year.”
He then discussed on pellets production complexes in Iran and added: “26 pelletizing plants with total production capacity of 54 Million Tons are under construction and this will result in increase of pellets production capacity to more than 70 Million Tons which is enough for production of 50 Million Tons of steel. As the planned target by the end of 6th Development Plan is not more than 40.3 Million Tons, there will be some extra quantities which can be exported as pellets itself or produce DRI and then export it. Considering the considerable increase in the price of pellets in comparison to iron ore (pellets price increment was 69% while for iron ore it was 39% only), it’s evident that pellets export is more profitable. By opening of Gol-e-Gohar new pelletizing plant with 5 Million Tons annual production, Iran can get advantage to start exporting pellets during the 2nd mid of current Iranian year (October 2016-March 2017), because here is no local demand for such additional production.
He then pointed out the statistics released by World Steel Association and added: “there has been no change in the position of Iran among steel producers in the first 7-month of the year 2016 and stayed in 14th rank. During this period the production of crude steel by Iranian producers has been 10,120,000 Ton. Based on statistics released by this Association, the production of crude steel in Iran has had 4.9% increment in comparison with the same period of the preceding year and it has been reached to 9,645,000 Ton. The steel production of Iran in July has been 1,370,000 Ton which had 7.6% increment in comparison to July 2015 but the production of June has been less than the same month in 2015. which had been 1,534,000 Ton. Iran took 14th rank after China, Japan, India, USA, Russia, South Korea, Germany, Turkey, Brazil, Ukraine, Italy, Taiwan and Mexico.”
Prof. Jafari Tehrani discussed on foreign trade statistics of Iran and pointed out that the investigation of statistics of foreign trade of Iran during the first 4-month of the year 1395 (March 21st, through July 21st, 2016) indicates that there has been 40% increase in export of iron ore with less than 40% Fe content. The total figure for export of both iron ore Fines & Lump with Fe content above 40% along with Concentrate during this period has been touched to 5,790,000 Ton which equals to USD 227,161,000.
In the other commodities such as cement products we had 4.3 Million Ton export with total value of USD 165,913,000. In lead and zinc sector we had 49,000 ton lead export amounting to USD 65.6 Million and 44,600 Ton zinc amounting to USD 53.9 Million. The value of export of aluminum products has been 39,500 Ton amounting to USD 50.23 Million.
He then pointed out: “the statistics released by Iran Customs Administration shows that except for drop in export of both cement and aluminum, which for cement had been the result of limitations imposed on import to Iraq, we have had an increase in export of all other mining & base metal products like iron ore, copper, steel, lead and zinc.”
In connection with the opportunities for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Iranian mines and steel industries he said: “as Chairman & Managing Director of IMIDRO ;Dr. Mehdi Karbasian, told before, according to 6th Development Plan here is a great and unique opportunities for FDI in the mine and mining industry development projects, especially in steel, aluminum, copper and zinc sectors. In mine sector, by taking into account the importance of exploration, Iran is mainly desired to attract foreign investment in exploration and completion of mine chain and then added value projects up to production of the end products such as copper or steel. Dr. Karbasian then pointed out: I believe that Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has created the most important opportunity for development of investment in mine and mine industries sector. Another parameters are decrease of inflation rate and fixed exchange rate which in turn indicate the economic stability that is prerequisite for investment in any country including in Iran. The decrease of inflation rate below 10, which had been among the targets of the 11th government and has been seriously followed up, has drew much more attention this year and this will help the promotion of the situation as well. On the other hand, the Iranian market is a good marketplace for steel products. In addition to local markets, there are good opportunities for export to the neighboring countries. Also, the abundant iron ore reserves, availability of low cost energy and less expensive raw materials and reasonable labor cost are among other privileges of Iranian market. The privatization of public complexes will result in higher productivity as well.”
He continued: “according to several investigations, the total decisive and probable iron ore reserves is 5.1 Billion Ton including 54% (equal to 2,793,295,000 Ton) as decisive reserve and 46% (equal to 2,359,012,000 Ton) as probable reserve. Among this figure 34% are located at Gol-e-Gohar (Central South Iran) region, 31% in Central Iran region and 22% in Sangan ( North East Iran) region.
The Head of International Affairs of Iron Ore Association of Iran addressed the targets sought by Iran in steel production sector and added: “according to the Iranian Vision Plan 2025 the steel production by the end of year 1404 (as at March 20th, 2025) will be 55 Million Ton out of which 40 Million Ton will be consumed locally. For the purpose of realization of this plan and building infrastructures almost USD 30 Billion foreign investment is required. In addition, by the end of year 1404 (as at March 20th, 2025) the copper production to be increased to 450,000 Ton and aluminum production to be reached to 1.5 Million Ton. In addition Iran has other plans for production of metals & commodities with higher added value like titanium, petroleum coke, coal, and rare earth elements (REE).
At the end of his briefing, he stated that the most important challenge associated with the investment in Iran is the lack of adequate support of the industries & mining sectors by local banking system due to not availability of enough cash flow, and hope by absorbing as much as possible foreign direct investment, we may achieve our goal.
