TEHRAN- The periodical reports and statistics indicate that Iran’s metals sector is progressing both in terms of production and export despite the limitations imposed by the U.S. sanctions.

The country’s copper industry is moving forward noticeably, as some outstanding projects are implemented.

Iran has seen its copper exports doubled in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19, 2020) despite a series of bitter sanctions imposed by the United States aimed at hampering the Islamic Republic’s trade of lucrative metals.

A senior official at Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), Iran’s largest metals and mining holding, has said that the value of exports for main copper products reached more than $1 billion over the past year.

The country has posted outstanding figures in terms of copper cathode production and export.

Copper cathode is the primary raw material input for the production of copper rod for the wire and cable industry.

The most recent report released by the Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry shows that the production of copper cathode in the country has risen nine percent during the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-December 20, 2020), as compared to the last year’s corresponding period.

As reported, 192,000 tons of the product was produced in the mentioned time span.

Also, the data published by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) indicate that Iran has exported 80,000 tons of copper cathode worth $512 million during the nine-month period.

The average price of each ton of exported copper cathode was $6,394, based on the customs statistics released by the IRICA.

Iran has exported 45,600 tons of copper cathode at the price of $6,414 per ton to China during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-November 20, 2020).

The value of copper cathode exported to China was 6.6 percent of the total worth of Iran’s non-oil export to that country in the first eight months of the present year.

Also in the mentioned eight-month period, copper cathode constituted the lion’s share of India’s non-oil imports from Iran, as they purchased $65.4 million of the product from Iran.

Iran’s copper cathode export to its neighbor Turkey stood at 10,000 tons in the mentioned time span.

According to the data released by the National Iranian Copper Industry Company, the value of Iran’s copper cathode exports reached $419 million during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-September 21, 2020), which was 26 percent more than the figure projected for this period,

Meanwhile, the production of copper cathode has increased six percent during the first half of this year, compared to the same period of time in the past year.

Copper cathode output hit 139,899 tons in the first six months of the present year, while the predicted figure was 130,015 tons.

Production of copper cathode, which stood at 250,000 tons in the past Iranian calendar year, is planned to reach 280,000 tons in the present year.