Exports of mining, mineral products top $7.5b in seven months: IMIDRO
The Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) announced on Wednesday that Iran’s exports of mining and mineral products surpassed $7.5 billion from the start of the current Iranian year (March 20) to October 21.
According to the report, Iran exported 36.596 million tons of various mining and mineral products valued at $7.537 billion during the seven months. During the same period last year, exports stood at 35.94 million tons, worth $7.43 billion, IRNA reported.
A comparison of the two periods shows a 2% rise in weight terms and a 1% increase in export value this year.
The largest share of exports during this period came from the production chains of steel, aluminum, and copper, totaling 19.015 million tons and valued at $5.81 billion.
According to IMIDRO, the value of Iran’s export of minerals in the previous Iranian year stood at $13.7 billion, registering a nine-percent increase compared to a year earlier. The report added that $7.3 billion worth of the mining and mineral products were imported into Iran from March 2023 to March 2024, showing a 35% rise compared to a year earlier.
Iran is one of the top 10 mineral-rich countries in the world. With 15,000 mining areas, Iran has the sixth largest zinc, seventh largest copper, ninth largest iron ore reserves, and fifth largest gypsum and barite reserves globally. It also has 3% of the world’s total lead and zinc reserves, and huge coal reserves.
Other mineral products such as chromate, and manganese are also found in different regions of Iran.