The minister of industry, mine, and trade, Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh on Monday called for reducing the export of raw unprocessed copper, noting that it deprives the country of value added.
The minister made the remarks during the inauguration ceremony of an enameled copper wire factory in the western city of Boroujerd in Lorestan province, as part of a development plan aimed at increasing the factory's annual production capacity to 60,000 tons from the current 30,000 tons, Mehr news agency reported.
Noting that the enameled copper wire factory in Boroujerd has great potential for increasing the value added in the copper sector, Nematzadeh said his ministry would provide financial assistance for supply of raw materials to the plant.
The minister also noted that the industrial sector in Iran which has been facing serious problems in the past few years, has experienced growth since the beginning of the current year (March 21, 2014), without further elaboration.
Nematzadeh added that, on average factories in Iran are working at 60 to 70 percent of their production capacities, and only a few are working at full capacity. He promised government assistance to inactive plants to resume activities.
According to the minister, Lorestan province officials have listed the factories which are on the verge of closing down due to financial problems.
The Boroujerd textile factory is one such plants awaiting government help, Nematzadeh noted.
The recent development plans announced by the National Iranian Copper Industries Company (NICICO) are in line with the minister’s remarks regarding development and modernization of the copper industry.
NICICO, which is a major state-owned company responsible for extracting and utilizing copper mines across the country, producing copper concentrates, and copper products such as cathodes, slabs, billets and 8mm wire rods, recently announced plans to implement two major development plans which would add 300,000 tons to the company’s annual copper concentrates production capacity.
Along with other smaller plans, the implementation of the development plans is expected to add 80,000 tons to the company’s total production capacity.
