Iranian Minister of Industries and Mining Ali Akbar Mehrabian has announced his country's plans to increase crude steel production up to 15.5 million mt by the end of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2008 - March 20, 2009).
In his statement on the issue, Mr. Mehrabian said that in the last Iranian year Iran produced 10.5 million mt of crude steel, while the annual need of the country is about 20 million mt. He also expressed the hope that in the near future Iran would be able to achieve self-sufficiency in steel.