Displaying items by tag: Iran

Iran: Iran exported 18.8Mt of cement clinker in the Iranian calendar year that ended on 20 March 2014 according to the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Trade. The figure was a 38% increase from the 13.7Mt exported in the 2012 – 2013 year. The ministry added that 69.7Mt of cement was produced in the country in the 2013 – 2014 period. Of this total 79% was consumed domestically.

Iran: Iran plans to boost cement production to 75Mt by March 2014 and 85Mt by the end of the next Iranian calendar year, which starts on 21 March 2014.

"Iran, with a cement capacity of 70Mt/yr, is the world's fourth largest producer of cement after China, India and the United States," said Abdolreza Sheikhan, secretary of the Union of Cement Industry Employers, at the Sixth International Cement, Concrete and Construction Technology Exhibition in Tehran. He added that Iran will become the world's third-largest cement producer if its 75Mt nominal capacity becomes its actual production level.

Late in November 2013, Sheikhan said the country's cement output hit 44.6Mt in the first 7 months of the Iranian calendar year (21 March to 20 October 2013), a 2% growth compared to the same period in 2012. Iran's cleaner production hit 43.4Mt during the same period with 4% growth compared to the same period in 2012. He added Iran's cement and cleaner production reached 6.19Mt and 5.89Mt respectively in October 2013.

Eurocement recently trumpeted the production of two new types of cement at its Podgorensky plant in Voronezh Region. A focus on standards follows a self-declared offensive being taken by the leading Russian cement producer against foreign imports since August 2013.

When the 3Mt/yr Podgorensky plant reached its full production capacity in July 2013, Eurocement president Mikhail Skorokhod gave a press conference to promote his products over the imports from Iran and Turkey. Some of the more humorous comments Skorokhod made to the press included suggesting that Iranian cement might be radioactive and the revelation that the title of Eurocement's in-house magazine, 'All Shades of Grey', might be inspired by an erotic novel with a similar name ('50 Shades of Grey').

More seriously, Russia's southern regions between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea are vulnerable to foreign imports. Both Turkey and Iran have high cement production capacities and they have access to the country via these two seas. In addition to rising housing construction in Russia since 2010, cement demand is expected to further take a boost from building associated with the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

As stated by Skorokhod, the Podgorensky cement plant was created to fight foreign imports. Hence the focus on standards and government approval. The cement types in question - TSEM I 52.5N and TSEM II/ A-Sh 42.5N - were certified by NIIMosstroy (the Moscow Construction Research Institute) with additional testing conducted by the Voronezh Regional Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology. The move was similar to attempts made in recent years by local producers in southern and eastern Africa to focus consumers' minds on quality versus the potential risks of low-cost imports.

Eurocement clearly wants to fight imports head on given that, according to CMPRO data, total cement imports to Russia nearly doubled from 2.8Mt in 2011 to 5.1Mt in 2012. Turkey, Belarus and Iran were the main importers in 2012. In 2012 cement imports as a percentage of consumption hit their highest level since 2008. At the same time Russian consumption of cement rose by 13% to 65Mt in 2012 from 58Mt in 2012.

Back in August 2013, Skorokhod said that the Podgorensky plant had cut imports to the southern ports. With no figures available yet for imports in 2013 we can only wait and see.

Iran: Iran produced 38.4Mt of cement in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year, which began on 21 March 2013, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). This is a 6% rise year-on-year from the same period in the previous year.

In September 2013, the chairman of the Iranian cement employers association said that Iran was the fourth leading cement producer in the world and the top producer in the Middle East. The country's cement production is forecast to be 80Mt/yr by the end of the current Iranian calendar year.

Iran: Cement producers in Iran owe about Euro750m to the country's banking system, according to Abdolreza Sheykhan, the secretary of Iran's Cement Producers Association.

Sheykhan added that cement producers were also incurring losses due to changes in foreign currency rates, in a report by Iran's Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper. Cement producers received bank credits based on an old official rate of 9000 rials to the US$. However they have to pay back the credit at a new rate of 25,000 rials to the US$.

Iraq/Iran: Iraq has banned imports of Iranian white cement from the Iranian border towns of Shalamcheh and Chazabeh, according to Sadeq Sava'edi, the deputy head of Khuzestan's Cement Exporters Union. Iraq is still importing grey cement and other construction materials.

"Iran exports 8000t/day and 6000t/day respetively of construction materials from the Chazabeh and Shalamcheh borders areas to Iraq," said Savaedi to the ISNA news agency.

Previously Iraq banned imports of cement of Iran completely in June 2013 but trade resumed shortly afterwards. In January 2013 the Iran - Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce Secretary General Jahanbakhsh Sanjabi said that the value of trade between the two countries was about US$10.7bn/yr. He added that Iraq is Iran's main trading partner for non-oil goods.

Iraq/Iran: Following a similar move by Turkmenistan, Iraq will stop importing Iranian cements from 1 July 2013, according to Sadeq Sava'edi, the deputy head of Khuzestan's Cement Exporters Union in Iran. Iran currently exports 20,000-30,000t/day of cement to Iraq.

Sava'edi said that the move aims to boost Iraq's domestic cement production, according to the ISNA News Agency quoted. He further said that political and security issues were also influential in the decision.

The news from Iraq, which is Iran's largest destination for cement exports, came as Mohammad Fatemian, an official with the Iranian Industry, Mine, and Trade Ministry said that Iran plans to export 18.5Mt of cement in the current Iranian calendar year, which ends on 20 March 2014. Iran's cement and clinker exports stood at 16.5Mt for the year to 20 March 2013, exporting 11.85Mt of cement and 1.79Mt of clinker.

Iran produced over 70Mt of cement in the past Iranian calendar year, according to cement industry officials. Capacity is expected to reach 110Mt/yr by 2015.

Iran exported cement to 24 countries including Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Oman, India and China in the past Iranian year.

Chinese and Iranian companies have released information on two new projects in Iraq. Chinese cement equipment provider Sinoma has signed a contract with the Faruk Investment Group to build a cement clinker production line and the Islamic Republic News Agency has reported Iran's intention to build a 2Mt/yr plant.

Sinoma's project seems targeted at the domestic market. It is based at Sulaymaniyah, at one of Faruk Group's two plants that it runs with Lafarge near the northern Kurdish city. Lafarge also runs a third plant in Kerbala that announced the arrangement of a US$70m loan for renovations in January 2013. Lafarge holds a cement production capacity of 6.5Mt/yr, 20% of Iraq's total installed capacity of 32.5Mt/yr. Although, following years of neglect installed capacity and actual cement produced can vary significantly. Faruk Group's decision to choose Sinoma marks a move away from the German firm ThyssenKruppPolysius whom they have used previously. The new line will be Sinoma's seventh in Iraq through its Nanjing subsidiary.

Meanwhile, the Iranian project carries more international motives because the clinker for the plant will come exclusively from Iran. The build is based in the southern Muthanna province and is being overseen by the Iranian Azar-Abadegan Khoy cement plant. As reported in late January 2013, clinker stocks rose in Iran due to a decline in cement demand in the country. Iraq is one of the countries Iran has been able to export cement to during the 2012 – 2013 Persian year. In this context expanding into Iraq makes a lot of sense to combat potential Iranian overcapacity.

In addition all the products made at this plant will carry Iranian branding. Given that this plant is in southern Iraq relatively near to the Saudi border this will complicate any plans to sell stock across the border. As we report this week in Global Cement Weekly, Saudi cement producers have been asked to build reserves of cement to manage the shortage better.

Both projects reveal some of the issues facing Iraq's cement industry, specifically Iraq's redevelopment and the pressures it faces lying between massive demand for cement in Saudi Arabia and overcapacity in Iran. After years of low capacity utilisation rates, Iraq is predicted to hit a production capacity of 22Mt/yr by the end of 2014 with demand expected to reach 35Mt/yr.

For more information on the Iraqi cement industry read Global Cement Magazine's article.

Iraq: Iran plants to build a 2Mt/yr cement plant in Iraq, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). The project will cost around US$245m with an opening date set for 2015. Cement produced at the plant will be exported using Iranian brand names.

Iran: Iran exported over 13.65Mt of cement and clinker in the Iranian calendar year which ended on 20 March 2013. The country exported over 11.85Mt of cement and 1.79Mt of clinker, according to the IRNA News Agency.

1.04Mt of cement and 179,000t of clinker were exported in the last month of this period, from 19 February 2013 to 20 March 2013. In the 2012 - 2013 year Iran exported cement to 24 countries including Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Oman, India and China.

Abdolreza Sheykhan, an official with Iran's Cement Producers Association, said in February 2013 that the country plans to increase its cement output up to 85Mt by the end of the 2013 - 2014 Iranian calendar year. Sheykhan also expressed the hope that Iran's cement exports would reach 18 - 20Mt in the current calendar year.