JAKARTA – Iraq’s Ministry of Industry and Minerals announced mid-October that the country has achieved self-sufficiency in cement production, with output from its facilities reaching 37.5 million tons during 2024, meeting high-quality standards compliant with international specifications.

Production Boom Driven by Reconstruction

Economic reports indicate that domestic cement consumption has surged in recent years due to population growth, expanding construction activities, and reconstruction efforts. Infrastructure projects, investment housing developments, and sanitation networks across Iraqi provinces, including the Kurdistan Region, have fueled this increased demand.

Iraq currently operates 18 government cement companies alongside 13 private firms, contributing to historically unprecedented production levels. Ministry spokesperson Duha Al-Jubouri confirmed that the country genuinely achieved cement self-sufficiency in 2024 with a production capacity of 37.5 million tons from government facilities alone.

Diverse Product Portfolio

Al-Jubouri explained that Iraqi cement industry produces two main categories: standard and non-standard types. Standard production includes ordinary Portland cement used in construction and sulfate-resistant cement. Non-standard production encompasses specialized cement for oil wells (types B and G) according to American Petroleum Institute (API) standards, manufactured at the Babel Cement Plant.

Other facilities, such as Hamam Al-Alil in Nineveh Province, produce low-alkalinity cement characterized by high fineness, rapid setting, and sulfate resistance, typically used in dam foundations and water infrastructure.

Ambitious Expansion Plans

The ministry has launched a comprehensive development plan for the cement industry through investment opportunities to expand and modernize government factories while establishing new facilities. The plan includes three investment opportunities across three provinces in recent years, aiming to increase total production capacity to approximately 50 million tons annually in the near term.

Market Transformation

Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Mashhadani, an economics professor at Iraqi University, confirmed Iraq has achieved a record production breakthrough of 37.5 million tons annually, with operational capacity reaching 45 million tons when including both public and private sectors. He expects the next two years to witness additional production increases alongside rising domestic demand.

Al-Mashhadani noted that Iraq’s consumption in 2014 didn’t exceed 25 million tons, with significant reliance on imports. However, reconstruction of cities destroyed during the war against ISIS dramatically increased demand, especially in Baghdad, Nineveh, Anbar, Salah al-Din, and Kirkuk provinces.

Regional Leadership Ambitions

Engineer Ma’an Al-Rawi, who works at a government factory, stated that Iraq may have effectively reached self-sufficiency in ordinary cement used for residential construction, though it still needs to develop production of specialized types for precise engineering applications, such as high-purity resistant cement used in oil facilities or sensitive infrastructure.

Economic expert Anmar Al-Obaidi projects that cement demand will continue rising due to the country’s urban boom, noting that the past five years witnessed construction of at least 600,000 residential units across provinces excluding the Kurdistan Region. He estimates Iraq needs an additional 3.5 million housing units over the next decade, signifying unprecedented cement consumption levels.

Al-Obaidi also highlighted that the Development Road project, extending from Basra in the south to the Turkish border in the north, will further increase demand. He urged the government to reduce production costs by modernizing old factories still operating with energy and water-intensive wet production methods, converting them to energy-efficient dry methods with lower emissions.

Original Article:

Aljazeera Net. (2025, October 27). العراق يعلن تحقيق الاكتفاء الذاتي من الأسمنت. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.net/ebusiness/2025/10/26/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%83%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%86%D8%AA-%D8%B5%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%A9