TEHRAN, Iran, Feb.17
Trend:
Iran's bitumen production and export have declined in the current
Iranian year (started March 21, 2021), Vice President of Bitumen
Commission in Iranian Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters
Union Seyed Hamed Hosseini told Trend.
"The statistics show the supply of bitumen vacuums at Iran's
Mercantile Exchange has declined by 15 percent," he said.
"Although bitumen vacuums are partly supplied to the domestic
market, the total bitumen production has dropped since the feed
supply for bitumen production plants has been reduced, and
production and export have declined," he indicated.
"The domestic market has limited bitumen demand, so Iran can export
the surplus bitumen abroad. Iran has successfully exported the
product to East Asian and South Asian countries," he noted.
Meanwhile, Turkey has banned the entry of Iranian trucks carrying bitumen, preventing Iran to export bitumen to Georgia via Turkey.
Hosseini said the local bitumen production plants have financial problems and would have to pay export tax, which in turn, makes production unprofitable.
Most companies have the lack of access to feed for bitumen
production, he said.
Iran's export markets are very diverse and the country is exporting
bitumen to all the East Asian countries including China, Taiwan,
Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, along with some
other destinations: the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kenya, Tanzania,
Djibouti, and South Africa.