(Minews) - Minister of Industries, Mines and Trade announced on Saturday that in the first 11 months of the year (started on March 21, 2014) more than 17.5 million tons of cement and clinker were exported, almost 98 percent being ahead of the target set for the exports in the sector this year.
More than 67 percent of the exported bulk was cement and the rest clinker.
In the manufacture of Portland cement, clinker is lumps or nodules, usually 3–25 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 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.
