Iranian cement exports rise 12% in under two years

The head of Iran’s Cement Industry Producers Association, Ali-Akbar Alvandian, said on Saturday that the country had exported 10.5Mt of cement in the first nine months of the Iranian calendar year 1402 (21 March-21 December 2023). He added, that in the previous year, 13Mt of cement had been exported. 

Alvandian noted that Iran produces about 90Mta, 60Mta of which is consumed domestically. Moreover, cement production in the country has grown 12 per cent since Ebrahim Raisi came to power in 2021.

According to the official, Iran currently has 13 projects nearing completion. These projects are expected to increase the country’s production of white cement by more than 8.8Mt, once operational.

The country exports its cement to a total of 25 countries including Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Syria and Pakistan. These countries are not only consumers of Iranian cement, but also demand the transfer of the country’s production technologies.

IRIB reports that Iran produced 63Mt of cement in 2021, ranking as the world’s seventh-largest cement producer. This comes after the country ranked fifth in 2020, producing 69Mt. Presently, Iran has 96 active production lines in 74 plants, nearly half of which are less than 10 years old. Therefore, it is assumed that the new production units have a greater share of output in the sector.