Reducing electricity restrictions for Tehran’s cement industry

According to Energy Press, Ali Akbar Elwandian, regarding the trend of electricity supply for the cement industry over the past three years, stated: It is true that the supply situation has been growing over the past three years; But we remember that the worst year in terms of energy supply for industries, especially the cement industry, happened in the summer of 2021; After that, in 2022 compared to 2021 and from 2022 to 2023, we saw an upward trend in energy supply; The same improvement in energy supply and the fact that the Ministry of Energy was able to provide the right amount of energy, caused the sudden increase in consumption (especially last year) to not disrupt the market and we left behind a calm market.
While pointing out that in 2023, six million tons more than 2022, cement was released to the market, the secretary of the Cement Industry Employers Association said: There was an 11% increase in consumption and an increase in production by the same amount. Therefore, the market was not tense. In fact, as we have emphasized many times, what keeps the market calm is the increase in production, and on the contrary, the lack of production provides the basis for the formation of the black market.
70 furnaces were stopped this year
He stated: But unfortunately, this year compared to last year, the energy restrictions for us have increased significantly and we have received much less electricity than last year. The application of restrictions has disrupted production, and unfortunately, according to the latest surveys, with this year’s restrictions, about 70 kilns from the production lines of the cement industry have been stopped; Because the allocated electricity was not enough to continue the production. The rest, which are still working, operate with low capacity and low efficiency, and heavy damage has been caused to the production units.
Alvandian continued: Despite the fact that there were more restrictions in July this year compared to June, we tried not to disturb the supply balance and did not reduce the supply. Due to the fact that this season is the peak of cement consumption and on the other hand, some events took place in the virtual space, excitement reigned in the market and speculation to increase the price became strong; Therefore, it led to more turbulence in the market and provided market inflammation.
The secretary of the Cement Industry Employers’ Association stated: The important point here is that the producer’s price has not increased; Because the price of the producer’s cement is under the supervision of the stock exchange and the government also supervises it; In fact, the price gap between the producer and the market floor price has increased. Therefore, in addition to the fact that the producer is under double pressure in order to stop many furnaces and reduce production and control the price, but the consumer also buys cement at a higher price due to the abuse of dealers.