More than 50,000 metric tons of aluminum ingots were exported by Almahdi Hormozgan Aluminum Company during the first eight months of the Iranian calendar year (March 21-November 21), reported iribnews.ir.
Some $106 million worth of ingots were exported to Turkey, India, Italy, and Taiwan during the 8-month period, said Ali Akbar Golkar, the CEO of the company. The total production during the eight months was 112,855 metric tons, and the number is expected to exceed 177,000 metric tons during the remaining four months of the year (ending March 20, 2015).
The company, located near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, is planning to increase its annual output by establishing four new silos to keep alumina, each of which will contain 20,000 metric tons of alumina. Alumina is a white or nearly colorless crystalline substance that is used as a starting material for the smelting of aluminum metal.
Officials from the ministry of industry, mine, and trade have recently announced that government plans to allocate around $11.4 billion for the development of the domestic aluminum industry as part of plans to nearly quadruple production by 2025.
Iran is the 20th largest producer of aluminum in the world, according to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), and needs the aluminum surplus to be used for meeting the domestic demand, which has grown by 10%.
Aluminum ingot production topped one million metric tons in the second year of the 5th Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2011-2016), showing an increase of 37% compared to the same period in the 4th Plan (2006-2011). The country’s aluminum ingot production was 318,000, 337,000 and 350,000 metric tons through 2011 to 2013, respectively.
