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Iran’s steel output up 64% y/y in August
Iran reportedly launches third titanium processing plant
Iran targets doubling of building material exports to Russia
Iran's crude steel output expanded by 64.7% y/y in August to 2.1mn tonnes, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel). Despite US sanctions that hinder Iran’s steel industry, international buyers continue to skirt sanctions enforcers to access cheap product.
The data also showed that the Islamic Republic produced 19.5mn tonnes of crude steel in 8M22, up 7.8% y/y.
The August production level meant Iran maintained its place as the 10th largest steel producer in the world.
Iran is targeting seventh place by 2025.
Iran has reportedly put its third titanium processing plant into operation. The 27,000-tonne/year production unit has been launched in Rudab Sabzevar, in northeastern Iran’s Razavi Khorasan province, where the number of titanium mineral processing and chromite concentrate units has risen in recent years, according to Press TV.
Titanium minerals are used to make titanium sponge. The sponge, in turn, is turned into lightweight, high-strength metal for industrial applications used in high-end aerospace, marine and auto production.
China is the world's top producer of titanium sponge, accounting for 57%, or 210,000 tonnes, of global output last year, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Japan is second with 17%, followed by Russia with nearly 13%. Other sources include Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Vietnam and Mozambique. Iran launched its first titanium processing plant—with the capacity to produce 130,000 tonnes/year of titanium dioxide concentrate and 70,000 tonnes/year of titanium dioxide slag—in 2016.
In June 2020, Iran commenced mining a heavy mineral sands prospect in Qara-Aghaj, near Urmia in West Azerbaijan province. It is estimated to hold 120mn tonnes of titanium-bearing ores.
Iran is ranked among the world’s 15 major mineral-rich countries, with 68 types of minerals. Its mineral potential is not, however, fully mapped.
Iran is targeting a near doubling of building material exports to Russia, deputy head of economic diplomacy at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Mehdi Safari, said on August 8.
He spoke with particular reference to cement, plaster and ceramic tiles. The ambition is another indicator of how rapidly Iran hopes trade and investment with Russia will expand as Moscow firms ties with countries it sees as able to help it reorientate its economy in the face of the waves of sanctions directed at the Russians by the West in response to the late February invasion of Ukraine. In ceramic tiles, Iran will have to compete with India, which is rapidly increasing supplies of the product to Russia. However, the Iranians have the advantage of relative proximity to Russia via expanding land routes and sea routes across the Caspian Sea.
Iran’s annual exports of building materials to Russia are running at around $3bn and the intention is to boost that figure to at least $5bn in the not-too-distant future, Safari said.
One focus in growing trade with Russia is Mazandaran Province on the Caspian coast. There are three large seaports in the province, namely Amirabad, Nowshahr and Feridunkenar.
Currently, the main flows of Iranian exports to littoral states of the Caspian Sea run from these ports. Building materials, rolled metal products and food products such as milk, poultry, rice, honey and spices are shipped from these export departure points.
Iranian authorities have long promised to turn Mazandaran into an international export hub serving the North-South transport corridor. However, as Safari
68 IRAN Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com