Baku, Azerbaijan, July 4
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Exports of Iran’s mineral industry products increased by 47 percent during the first two months of current fiscal year (March 20-May 20), Iran's Deputy Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Jafar Serghini said.
The main exported goods were steel and copper products, he said, Iran’s industry, mines and trade ministry’s official SHATA news portal reported July 4.
Seghini said cement and tile exports faced 30 percent and 33 percent fall due to problems in Iraqi market, which is one of main destinations of Iranian exports.
Iran exported $470 million worth of cathode copper in the two-month period, meanwhile the figure was $370 million for the last fiscal year (ended March 20), he noted.
Mines and mining industry of the Islamic Republic exported $7.05 billion worth of goods and services over the last Iranian fiscal year.
According to Amir Sabbagh, an official with the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), the mining sector had a share of $11.5 billion in the country’s trade turnover over the last Iranian year.
He said the imports of the country’s mining sector in the mentioned period stood at $4.44 billion.
Iran possesses 7 percent of the world’s total mineral deposits with about 68 kinds of commercially valued minerals, including gold reserves. The volume of Iran’s minerals is estimated at 57 billion tons.
The Islamic Republic is among the 10 major mineral-rich countries.