The first project is Sabanour Pellet Plant, which came on stream with an investment of 3 trillion rials ($11.15 million) and created 120 jobs.
The plant, located in Hamedan's Asadabad County, has the capacity to produce 2,000 tons of pellets per day, IRNA reported.
An iron ore concentrate factory, established in 2014, feeds the pellet plant, according to Financial Tribune.
Asadabad County possesses considerable iron ore reserves.
The second project inaugurated by Jahangiri was Rad Steel Company with a production capacity of 500,000 tons of rebar per year at the preliminary stage.
It is located in Vian Industrial Town located in Kabudar-Ahang County of Hamedan.
According to the company’s Managing Director Ali Akbar Yousefi, the plant has come on stream with an investment of 3.5 trillion rials ($30.04 million), which created 400 direct jobs and 1,500 indirect ones.
Earlier on Tuesday, Jahangiri inaugurated a 7-megawatt solar farm in Kabudar-Ahang County. He was also scheduled to cut the ribbon at two other solar farms in the cities of Famenin and Hamedan (central city of Hamedan Province) during his visit.
According to Mehr News Agency, the annual demand for 30 million tons of iron ore pellets is met by domestic production that is set to rise to 85 million tons by 2025.
Latest statistics on Iran's steel production show the country produced a total of about 25 million tons of crude steel in 2018, up 17.7% compared with 2017.
According to the latest report of World Steel Association, Iran is ranked the world’s 10th biggest steel producer last year and is placed between Brazil (ninth) with 34.73 million tons and Italy (11th) with 24.47 million tons.
Notably, Iran was the second biggest producer of direct reduced iron with 2.3 million tons of production in December and 25.54 in the whole of 2018.
The Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization’s latest report shows a total of 34.3 million tons of iron ore concentrate were produced in Iran during the nine months to December 21 to register a 22% growth compared with last year's similar period.
Iron ore concentrate output during the ninth Iranian month ending Dec. 21 amounted to 3.85 million tons and registered an 18% rise compared with last year’s same month.
Pellet output hit 31.14 million tons during the nine months, up 32% YOY.
It witnessed a 30% year-on-year increase during the ninth month to 3.66 million tons.
Production of direct-reduced iron stood at 18.64 million tons during the nine months, up 25% YOY.
DRI production reached 2.13 million tons during the ninth month, indicating a 24% growth YOY.
From the above raw materials, a total of 14.74 million tons of slab, bloom, billet and ingot were produced during the nine-month period under review, up 10% YOY.
As for output during the ninth month of the Iranian year, a total of 1.67 million tons of slab, bloom, billet and ingot were produced to register a 4% growth YOY.
A total of 8.3 million tons of finished steel products, including hot- and cold-rolled coils, rebar, beams, pipes, wide and galvanized sheets, were produced during the nine months, up 5% YOY.
The production of finished steel products stood at 779,543 tons in the ninth month to register a 13% decline YOY.
Iran aims to become the world’s sixth largest steel producer as per the 20-Year Vision Plan, which targets annual production capacity expansion to 55 million tons and 20-25 million tons of exports per year by 2025. Iranian steel mills have so far realized just over 30 million tons of the capacity target.
The country has been working to increase its iron ore processing capacity, including both DRI and hot-briquetted iron production, to feed its steelmaking expansion target.