TEHRAN- Production of iron ore concentrate in Iran during the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2019 – January 20, 2020) reached 39.341 million tons, registering a three-percent rise compared to the same period last year, IRIB reported.

The country’s major mineral production companies had managed to produce 38.162 million tons of iron ore concentrate in the previous year’s same time span.

According to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), in the mentioned 10 months, 22.512 million tons of iron ore conglomerate was produced, showing a two percent decline as compared to the last year’s corresponding period.

Based on IMIDRO’s data, 3.459 million tons of granulated iron ore was also produced in the first 10 months of the current year to register a 39-percent decline as compared to the last year’s 10-month period.

As previously announced, Iran’s export of iron ore concentrate rose 96.6 percent during the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20, 2019), compared to its preceding year.

The country exported 5.552 million tons of the product worth $398 million in the past year.

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 23, 2019.

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

EF/MA