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Iran eyes to produce 800,000 tons of copper concentrate

Business Materials 29 June 2019 11:32 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:

Iran plans to produce 800,000 tons of copper concentrate this Iranian year (started March 21, 2019), said Vice Chairman of Iranian Iron Ore Association Bahram Shakuri, Trend reports via ILNA.

He said that last Iranian year (started March 21, 2018), 220,000 tons of copper cathodes were produced

He added that Iran has potential to produce 450,000 tons of copper cathodes. “Production of copper cathodes will grow as the production of copper concentrate increases,” he said.

Shakuri noted that copper cathodes worth over $1 billion were exported last year, adding that this figure can be raised to $5 billion by increasing the production of copper concentrate.

“Domestic consumption in the copper sector in Iran reaches 30 percent, while 70 percent is exported,” he said.

Prior to sanctions, Iran’s copper products were exported to European, Japanese and South Korean markets, he noted, adding that due to the restrictions and banking problems, China is the main market for Iran’s copper exports now.

He said that in general, sanctions did not have a strong impact on Iran’s copper industry. Since Iranian copper is similar to Chilean and Mexican one, so it is not easy to clarify which country this product belongs to, he noted.

The US imposed sanctions on Iran in November 2018 and expanded them later.

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