Iran needs more investment to increase production capacity for direct reduced iron and 

most of the new investment in the industry should be directed to DRI expansion, accord

ing  to Rasoul Khalifesoltani, secretary of the Iranian Steel Producers Association, spea

king at a conference in Tehran on Sunday. 

"Although we  do  not agree with export of sponge iron [DRI], I believe that DRI export is 

quite attractive for Iranian producers," he said. 

"Turkey, the neighboring country, is a huge importer of ferrous scrap and it could replac

e  a  portion of  its scrap imports with sponge iron, if we develop our production enough," 

he  said. "There  is  demand for at least 10 million mt/year of sponge iron in Turkey," he 

estimated. 

"On  the other hand, shortage of sponge iron is a challenge for Iranian expansion projec

ts and more DRI modules should be installed in Iran," he said. 

Khalifesoltani  noted  that  the  Iranian steel development expansion to 55 million mt/year 

capacity  by  2025 is being realized but new investment for production of 11 million mt/ye

ar of iron ore  concentrate, 6 million mt/year of iron ore pellet and 12.5 million mt/year of 

DRI is still needed. 

He also predicted  that Iran's capacity to export steel will be increased to some 20 million 

mt/year proportional to the increase in output up to 2025, which will comprise about 11 m

illion mt/year of flat products, 6.5 million mt/year of longs and about 2.5 million/year of se

mi-finished products. 

As  a  result  of cheap natural gas, Iran is one of the world's biggest producer of DRI. The 

country produced some 16.01 million mt of DRI in 2016, up 10.1% year on year. 

Some 85% of Iran's steel industry is based on direct reduction technology for steelmaking 

using natural gas instead of coal. 

Iranian mines and metal state holding Imidro, in February said it is negotiating with Japan's 

Kobe Steel to use its technology at reducing water and energy consumption by Iranian DRI 

modules.