The figure indicates a 4.4%, or 15,650 tons, decline compared to the corresponding period of last year, IRIB News reported.
Mines materialized 20% of the goal by producing 1.7 million tons of coal concentrate.
Iran has four major coal mining regions, namely Tabas, Central Alborz, Eastern Alborz and Kerman.
Among all producers, Tabas Parvadeh Coal Company and Central Alborz Coal Company account for almost half of the country’s coal output.
According to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, the two giants had a total output of 176,760 tons of coal concentrates during the first quarter under review, a downturn of 3.6% YOY.
Tabas Parvadeh Coal Company and Central Alborz Coal Company extracted a total of 396,626 tons of coal during the three months, registering a 16.3% year-on-year decrease, the IMIDRO data show.
Iranian steelmakers consumed around 2.5 million tons of coal concentrate in the last Iranian year (March 2019-2020), of which 1.6 million (64%) were supplied by domestic mines and the remaining were procured through imports.
However, based on developments in the industries and with the new steel companies coming on stream, the country’s coal concentrate demand is projected to reach 4 million tons per year.
Iranian coal mines, with about 1.15 billion tons of combined reserves, currently have a nominal capacity of producing up to 3.5 million tons of coal concentrate annually.
Experts believe that support from the Industries Ministry will help boost the annual coal extraction to 10 million tons, of which 5 million tons of concentrate could be produced.
Based on unofficial data, there are 185 small- and large-scale coal mines in Iran, of which only 60% are active, IRNA reported.
Around 17,000 people are working in the coal sector, which can be doubled if the required infrastructures are established for reviving the inactive mines.