Iran ups exports of cement by 17%

Iran\'s export of cement and clinker has increased 17.44% and reached 10,119,780 tons, 8,662,807 tons of which belonged to cement industry and 1,456,973 tons to clinker export. Cement production has increased by 8% comparing to 2010 and reached more than 66,461,000 and clinker\'s production reached 67,639,000 by growth of 12% comparing to 2010. In December 2011, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated a major cement production project in the country\'s central province of Qom. The plant has an annual one-million-ton cement production capacity and has been built on $130 million of funding, mainly provided by Iran\'s Bank Melli and the government\'s Foreign Currency Reserve Fund. In August 2011, Ahmadinejad announced that Iran has joined the world cement exporters club after building numerous cement factories across the country. \"Today our country has become a main exporter of cement,\" Ahmadinejad said at a ceremony held to inaugurate the second phase of a cement factory in Orumieh, Northwestern Iran, in mid August. \"By launching the second phase of Orumieh cement factory, Iran\'s cement production capacity increased by one million tons,\" he said.