TEHRAN - Latest data released by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) indicate that iron ore pellet production by major Iranian mining companies exceeded 46 million tons in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), registering a 10 percent growth year on year.

The mentioned companies had managed to produce 41.7 million tons of pellets in the preceding year, IRNA reported.

According to the data, Golgohar was the largest producer of pellets in the said year with 12.2 million tons of production, followed by Mobarakeh Steel Company with 7.3 million tons, MIDHCO with 6.2 million tons, and Khouzestan Steel Company with 5.5 million tons.

Iran’s iron ore pellet production capacity exceeded 66 million tons in the previous Iranian calendar year.

IMIDRO's latest report on under-construction iron ore pellet production units in Iran indicates that a total of 25.92 million tons are expected to be added to Iran’s iron ore pellet production capacity by the time these units are completed in the fiscal year 1402 (2023-24).

Production of iron ore concentrate also reached 49.714 million tons during the previous calendar year to register a five-percent rise year on year.

According to the Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry data, of the mentioned figure 3.533 million tons were produced in the last month of the previous year (February 19-March 20).

As reported, the country’s major iron ore concentrate producers had managed to produce about 47.306 million tons of the mentioned product in the Iranian calendar year 1398.

Last year, major mining companies also produced 902,454 tons of granulated iron ore, to register a decrease of 54 percent compared to the preceding year (1,965,733 tons).

In its outlook plan for the Iranian calendar year 1404 (2025-2026) Iran has envisaged production of 55 million tons of steel per annum, and to achieve this target the country requires to extract 160 million tons of iron ore.

In a bid to prevent the exports of unprocessed minerals, creating more value-added and meeting the requirements of domestic producers for the raw materials, Iran has levied a 25-percent duty on the exports of raw minerals (especially iron ore) since September 2019.

The duty is aimed at encouraging the production of more processed minerals such as pellets and concentrate instead of selling the raw minerals.

EF/MA