Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of an iron ore concentrate production line at the Sangan-Khaf iron ore mine in the Iranian eastern province of Khorasan Razavi on Friday, President Ahmadinejad said the current amount of Iran’s steel production which is at 14 million tons now should reach 48 million tons in a 4-5-year period.

“In order to produce steel and steel products, we need concentrates, iron ore and pellets,” he said.

President stated that the steel production capacity of the unit, which currently stands at 2.6 million tons of concentrates and pellets, will reach 5 million tons in the near future.