Iran Ups Aluminum Output by 22.5% in 6 Months
Figures by Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation (IMIDRO) showed that four Iranian smelters had churned out a total of 318,091 metric tons (mt) of aluminum ingot in the six months of the Iranian calender year (March 21-September 22).
The data indicates an increase of 22.5% compared with March-September 2021 when IMIDRO had reported a half year output of 259,574 mt.
The South Aluminum Corporation (Salco), Iran’s largest smelter which launched only three years ago, was responsible for 137,351 or over 43% of Iran’s total aluminum output in the six months to late September, showed the figures.
They showed that the March-September production at Iran’s second and third largest aluminum smelters Iralco and Almahdi reached 88,111 mt and 74,543 mt, respectively.
Iran’s production of alumina powder, the key ingredient in aluminum manufacturing process, rose just 2% year on year in the six months to late September to reach 118,845 mt, according to the IMIDRO figures.
Iran’s Alumina Company is the single producer of alumina powder and bauxite, the main aluminum ore, in the country.
IMIDRO figures showed that bauxite production in the company had declined against March-September 2021 to stand at 261,009 mt.
Iran’s aluminum production jumped in 2020 with the inauguration of Salco, a massive plant in the Southern Iranian province of Fars, which cost IMIDRO and private investors some $1.2 billion to build.
The project was part of a larger plan by the Iranian government to diversify the country’s economy away from crude oil revenues.
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