Iran: Ali Akbar Alvandian, the Secretary of the Cement Industry Employers' Association, says that cement plants have been forced to cut production due to a shortage of gas. He said that plants near cities had been forced to halve production, according to comments made to the ILNA news agency. Plants in the countryside, however, have been able to cope better by using mazut heavy fuel oil. In addition cement companies were also negatively affected by electricity rationing over the summer. At its peak, in August 2024, 70% of kilns were closed.
Despite these issues there have been no significant changes in the price of cement due to the country’s use of commodity exchanges. However, exports have decreased by 17% year-on-year in the first seven months of the year. Most of the country’s clinker is exported to Iraq, Kuwait and India. The main destinations for cement include Afghanistan, Russia, Kuwait, Armenia, Turkmenistan and Pakistan.
