Iran’s Esfahan Steel Company (ESCO), popularly known as Zob Ahan, is aiming to restart its blast furnace number 1 next month.
ESCO, the nation’s largest rail producer with production capacity of 3.60 mtpa, was the first plant in Iranian history to produce steel through the BF route. However it had to close its BF No.1 due to raw material shortage some time back.
Testing and overhauling of the BF has been completed and the commissioning process is expected to start in early Sep’20. Restart of the BF is expected to add 720,000 mtpa crude steel capacity.
New US Sanctions against Iran
Recently, the US imposed new sanctions on Iran’s trade of 22 metals, including steel.
Mehrdad Tavalaeiyan, a senior operations executive at ESCO, said the sanctions might make things difficult for steel producers, but it cannot put a stop on steel exports.
The new sanctions may pressure Iranian steel prices, but it is unlikely to curb production and exports, he added.
Tavalaeiyan said that ESCO is a pioneer in the field of high-speed rail production and these sanctions cannot prevent the company from exporting to projects around the world.
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