Senior economic officials discussed the challenges facing the cement market in a meeting hosted by Majlis Development Commission recently.
A lawmaker told Mehr news agency that ministers of industries and mines, commerce, roads and transportation, housing and urban development and energy attended the meeting, in which the commission insisted that shares of state-run cement factories should be traded on the stock exchange.
Vali Azarvash, reporter of the commission, further said that the ministers and lawmakers addressed the shortage of supply and poor distribution of cement as a strategic product.
“The commission has so far conducted some three meetings to look into possible ways of resolving cement shortage,“ he said, adding that the product is mainly used by the ministries of roads and transportation and housing and urban development.
He further noted that the heads of three major cement factories in Tehran and the southern province of Khuzestan who also participated in the meeting said that poor natural gas supplies are to blame for low cement production.
The lawmaker said the commission has asked cement factories to defer overhauling and maintenance operations to months when demand is low.
The government has removed cement from the basket of subsidized goods. Tehran Metals and Industrial Goods Exchange is now responsible for setting cement prices.
Cement companies have suffered a hefty 43-percent decline in share prices over the past 20 months.
The 25 cement companies listed on the stock market produce 90 percent of Iran’s cement.
Cement consumption is expected to exceed 33 million tons this year.
As the country continues to face a shortage of supply, more than 2,800 tons of cement has been exported over the past months.
Cement industry experts have expressed hope that the market will be back to normal following plans to establish new factories and the much-anticipated decline in demand with the approach of winter.
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