TEHRAN- The production of iron ore concentrate in Iran increased by 17.6 percent in the first two months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20 -May 20), as compared to the same period in the past year, according to the data released by the Iranian Steel Producers Association (ISPA).

As ISPA reported, 13.798 tons of iron ore concentrate was produced in the first two months of this year, while the figure was 11.36 tons in the same period of the previous year.

As reported, Iranian steel mills managed to produce 10 million tons of iron ore concentrate in the second month of the current year (April 21-May 20).

During this period, more than 7.664 million tons of sponge iron pellets were produced, which was 14 percent more than the 6.723 million tons produced in the same period last year.

meanwhile, 12.513 million tons of iron ore pellets were also produced, registering a 6.8 percent rise compared to the 11.719 million tons produced in April and May of last year.

In the first two months of the year, 2,232,000 tons of long steel sections and 1,813,000 tons of steel sheet sections were produced respectively, of which 1,233,000 tons of long sections and 946,000 tons of flat sections were produced in the second month of the year.

The production of steel products increased from 3.943 million tons in the first two months of last year to 4.045 million tons in the current year, registering a 2.6 percent increase.

Iron ore concentrate is an output product from processed iron ores that have been milled (crush, grind, magnetic separation, flotation) to separate deleterious elements and produce a high-quality product.

Iron ore concentrates are deep beneficiated iron ore products, used for sintering and blast furnace production, as well as pellet production.

EF/