Tehran, Iran, June 13
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:
An official with Iranian Oil Products Exporters' Union said Ankara is in talks with Tehran to import tar.
"Turkey is in negotiations with Iran to import tar and meet its 3-million-ton annual demand," Hassan Tajik, a member of the presiding board of the Union’s tar committee, told Trend.
Turkey’s consumption of tar currently stands at 4 million tons per year, he added.
The official further noted that Ankara can only produce 1 million ton of its annual need and that it has to import the rest from its neighbors, including Iran.
Elsewhere in the interview, Tajik said India, west African nations and the nations of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are among major export destinations of Iran’s tar.
Iran exported 3.8 million tons of tar last year, he said, adding that the amount may reduce in the current Iranian fiscal year (started March 21) due to maintenance works at refineries and also lack of basic materials.
Iran produces nearly 5 million tons of tar a year. Countries in the Middle East, South Asia, East and Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe import the Iranian tar.
Tajik also warned that the Iranian tar market is expected to suffer major setbacks if the government does not think of a secondary market for foreign currencies.
On April 9, Iran unified the country’s official and open market rates after its currency, the rial, plunged to an all-time low on concerns over a return of crippling sanctions.
The US dollar jumped in a day from 54,700 rials to 60,000 rials in the open market in Tehran at the time. A dollar was worth 36,000 rials in mid-September.
After an emergency Cabinet meeting, Iran’s First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri was quoted by the state media as saying that from April 10 the price of the dollar would be 42,000 rials in both markets and for all business activities.