TEHRAN – Iranian mining industry has registered a $4.271 billion positive trade balance in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), according to the Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry data.

Based on the mentioned data, some 55.124 million tons of minerals and mining industry products worth $7.682 billion were exported in the previous year, while the imports of such products stood at only $3.410 billion.

As reported, the Islamic Republic imported 4.156 million tons of mining and mineral products in the year under review, registering six percent and 13 percent year-on-year rise in terms of value and weight, respectively.

The exports of such commodities in the previous year, however, fell 11 percent in terms of value and 21 percent in terms of weight, compared to the preceding year.

Steel had the biggest share in Iran’s export basket of mining products (53.7 percent) with $4.127 billion worth of exports, followed by copper, cement, and zinc chain products.

In line with Iran’s major plans for distancing the country’s economy from oil and moving toward a resilient, oil-free economy, the mining sector has become one of the major areas of focus in recent years, since the country is one of the world’s top 10 mineral-rich countries where 68 types of minerals have been identified so far, including the world’s largest deposits of copper, zinc, and iron.

Expansion and exploitation of these huge sources of income have become a top priority for the government in recent years, and various programs have been defined for the improvement of this industry.

Reviving idle small mines, increasing the tariffs on the exports of some raw minerals, defining new exploration projects, signing memorandums of understanding with domestic and foreign manufacturers for the renovation of the country’s mining equipment and machinery, and allocation of funds for the completion of semi-finished projects in this sector can be mentioned as some of the programs introduced by the government for the development of the country’s mining sector.

Iran had planned to raise the exports from the mining sector up to $10.5 billion in the previous year however the restrictions created by the coronavirus pandemic prevented the realization of the mentioned goal.

EF/MA