ISPA: $27.4b Needed for Iran Steel Development Plan
EghtesadOnline: Iran’s steel industry needs about €22.1 billion ($27.4 billion) in new investment to achieve a target of 55 million tons/year of production capacity by 2025, the Iranian Steel Producers’ Association said in a report.
About €13.39 billion should be invested in infrastructure projects, including €5.05 billion for new railroads and €3.3 billion for power generation. About €8.2 billion should be invested directly into steelmaking and raw materials development, ISPA said. Iran devised a plan in 2014 to boost annual steel production capacity to 55 million tons within 10 years. According to ISPA, Iran’s crude steel nominal capacity was 31.62 million tons/year, while production in the last Iranian year (which ended on March 20) was estimated at 22 million tons. Overall nominal capacity is 44.8 million tons/year, including rolling mill output, S&P Global Platts reported. Iran, whose nominal iron ore production capacity is 80 million tons/year, has proven iron ore reserves of 3.1 billion tons, which were expected to be consumed by 2035. The country’s ore reserves were estimated at 5 billion tons, with an average Fe content of 46%, according to the report. Iran’s steel development plan is based on utilizing direct reduced iron, so energy consumption is considerable at 9.49 million cubic meters of natural gas per year, Financial Tribune reported. This will rise to 17.1 million cubic meters to meet the 2025 production target, according to the ISPA report.