TEHRAN, Jan. 12 (MNA) Iran exported 14.425 million tons of cement and clinker in the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 21, a 36.2 percent rise year on year.Exports of cement and clinker amounted to 11.164 million tons and 3.261 million tons respectively, IRIB quoted the secretary of the union of cement industry employers, Abdolreza Sheikhan, as saying.
In the manufacture of Portland cement, clinker is lumps or nodules, usually 325 mm in diameter, produced by sintering limestone and alumino-silicate (clay) during the cement kiln stage.
Clinker, if stored in dry conditions, can be kept for several months without appreciable loss of quality. Because of this, and because it can easily be handled by ordinary mineral handling equipment, clinker is traded internationally in large quantities.
Cement manufacturers purchasing clinker usually grind it as an addition to their own clinker at their cement plants. Manufacturers also ship clinker to grinding plants in areas where cement-making raw materials are not available.
Iran plans to export 12 million tons of cement in the current Iranian year and to increase its cement output up to 85 million tons by the end of the next year, according to the report.
In August 2012, former Iranian Industry, Mines and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari said that the country's cement production capacity would reach 110 million tons by 2015.
In the past Iranian year, Iran exported cement to 24 countries, including Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Oman, India, and China.
By Mehr News Agency
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