Azerbaijan, Baku, Jul 15/ Trend, F. Karimov/
Iran produced over 19 million tons of cement in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 21, the Mehr News Agency quoted secretary of the union of cement industry employers, Abdolreza Sheikhan, as saying.
The figure shows a 7 percent rise compared to the same period of last year, he noted.
Cement output hit 7.2 million tons in the third calendar month of Khordad (May 22-June 21), he added.
In December 2012, Iranian Industry, Mine, and Trade Deputy Minister Vajiollah Jafari said by reaching an annual output capacity of 115 million tons, Iran will become world's third largest cement producer in coming years.
Iran's cement output will reach 75 million tons by the end of current Iranian calendar year, ISNA reported.
Iran plans to increase its cement output up to 85 million tons by the end of the next Iranian Calendar year.
The world's total cement production in 2011 stood at 3.6 billion tons.
Iran plans to export 12 million tons of cement this calendar year.
Industry, Mine and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari said in August 2012 that the country's cement production capacity will reach 110 million tons by 2015.
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 during the past Iranian year.
