Challenges of coal industry in Iran

As the largest consumer of coke in Iran, Isfahan Iron and Steel Co. has been criticized for not making sufficient use of domestic coal capacity and instead turning to imports from other countries.

The coal industry in Iran, despite the large potential reserves that reach approximately 14 billion tons, is still facing problems, the main of which is the lack of a unified and coordinated strategy for the development and exploitation of these reserves.

The Coal Producers Association of Iran has raised the widespread import rents as the main reason for this issue, which some people have benefited from and instead of using domestic resources, they benefit from imports.

But the evidence shows that in the best case, domestically produced coal is able to provide about 75% of iron smelting needs and only 25% must be imported from abroad due to special qualities.

These differences and the inability to use domestic reserves, as a destructive issue, have led to the failed development of the coal industry in Iran.