TEHRAN – Iranian mining sector is expected to export up to $10 billion of minerals and mining industry products by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2020), IRNA reported on Wednesday, quoting an industry official as saying.

“Mines of Iran will not only meet the needs of the country's industrial plants and construction industry but will also export about $9-$10 billion of minerals and other products by the end of the year,” Deputy Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Jafar Sarqini said on the sidelines of a gathering of the country’s supreme council of mining in the city of Zanjan, west-central Iran.

In late November, the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry announced that the value of Iran’s minerals and products exports increased by 11.7 percent in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22) compared to the figure for last year’s same period.

Based on the data released by the ministry, a total of 15.8 million tons of minerals and mining products worth $3.891 billion were exported to other countries in the first half of the current year.

The released data also indicated that up to the mentioned date, nearly 40 percent of the total export target for the country’s mining sector was realized.

As reported, steel ingot was the top exported product in this sector with $1.198 billion worth of exports, followed by iron ore and iron ore concentrate with $617 million value, steel products worth $575 million, and cathode copper valued at $262 million, as well as rolled steel products valued at $230 million.

China, Iraq, Indonesia, Ghana, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, UAE, Oman, and Thailand were the major importers of minerals and mining industry products from Iran in the mentioned six months.

The value of minerals exports to China reached $1.2 billion, while Iraq imported $454 million of such products; Indonesia’s imports stood at $422 million, Thailand at $302 million, and Turkey at $296 million.

EF/MA