Iran’s Esfahan Steel Company (ESCO) has signed an agreement to export around 1mn mt rail tracks to Afghanistan, according to the Iranian Steel Producers Association (ISPA). The deal is worth $4.332mn.
Landlocked Afghanistan is developing its railway infrastructure actively to increase connectivity to the various continents including the Middle East, Asia and Europe. On Dec 11, Iran and Afghanistan inaugurated a joint railway project called Khaf-Herat to connect eastern Iran to western Afghanistan.
In 2018, ESCO supplied the first domestically manufactured rail tracks to RAI, which were compliant to the latest international rail standards. Earlier in 2016, ESCO had agreed to supply Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (known as RAI) 40,000mt of U33 rails and consequently launched its rail production unit at an investment of $13.6mn.
ESCO has become the first and largest constructional steel & rail producer in Iran and the biggest producer of long products in the Middle East with 3.6mn mt capacity per year, producing various constructional & industrial steel sections. The producer has catered demand from various railway development projects across the country including Chabahar-Zahedan, Yazd-Eghlid, Hamedan-Sanandaj, Miyaneh-Ardebil, Bostanabad-Tabriz, and Rasht-Caspian. Now the company targets to increase exports in the coming days.