A total of 35.54 million tons of minerals and mining industry products worth $9.09 billion were exported from Iran during the first nine months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Dec. 21, 2022), registering a 5% rise in tonnage, but a 2% fall in value compared with the similar period of last year, new data released by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) show.
Steel manufacturing chain products (iron ore, semi-finished and finished steel) topped the list of exports in terms of value with an aggregate of $4.26 billion, followed by copper and related products worth $1.11 billion and aluminum products worth $854.3 million.
In terms of tonnage, cement and clinker topped the list with 10.37 million tons. Steel came next with 7.88 million tons and was followed by pellet with 3.33 million tons.
Exports of iron ore pellets saw the biggest jump in terms of value (282%) to reach $422.4 million, followed by ferroalloys with $51.9 million (up 139%) and titanium (up 121%) with $100,000.
Exports of titanium had the highest growth in terms of weight (742%) with 300 tons. It was followed by pellet (up 226% YOY) with 3.33 million tons and aluminum products (up 60% YOY) with 347,600 tons.
Imports Rise by 32% to $3.5b
The IMIDRO report also shows imports related to the mining industry and mineral products stood at 3.19 million tons worth $3.54 billion during the same period to register a 3% increase in weight and a 32% rise in value compared with the same period of the year before.
The steel category also topped the list of imports in terms of value with $1.11 billion, followed by coal and coke worth $612.7 million and ferromanganese worth $413.3 million.
Coke and coal had the highest volume of imports in terms of weight with 1.05 million tons, followed by steel with 792,800 tons and alumina powder with 344,600 tons.
The value of lead imports saw the biggest jump (up 500%) with $11.3 million. It was followed by zinc (460%) worth $20.3 million and antimony (326%) worth $3 million.
Lead had the highest growth of imports in terms of weight (498%) with 4,700 tons, followed by zinc (378%) with 35,200 tons and antimony (178%) with 200 tons.
27% Share in Iran’s Total Export Value
Minerals and mining products accounted for 37% and 27% of the weight and value of Iran’s total exports in the fiscal 2021-22, according to the former spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
Total exports stood at 122 million tons (registering a 5% rise compared to the previous year) worth $48.6 billion (up 73%), of which 45.4 million tons worth $12.29 billion were minerals and mining products, Rouhollah Latifi was also quoted as saying by IRIB News.
Metals accounted for the biggest share of export value last year.
More than 9 million tons of metallic mineral products worth $10.5 billion were exported from Iran in the fiscal 2021-22, registering a 12% rise in tonnage and a 91% rise in value compared to the year before, according to Elaheh Mokri, an IMIDRO official.
The most important exported metallic mineral products during the period were steel ingots worth $4.15 billion, long steel products worth $1.62 billion, copper cathode worth $1.36 billion, aluminum ingots worth $607 million, flat rolled steel products worth $494 million, zinc ingot worth $477 million, iron ore and concentrate worth $280 million and direct-reduced iron worth $238 million, the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran reported.
The export of these eight products collectively stood at $9.23 billion and accounted for 87% of the total metallic mineral shipments in the fiscal 2021-22.
During the period under review, among the select metallic mineral products, only sanitary valves showed a downtrend in exports.
The most valuable exported products were copper cathode with an average price of $9,624 per ton, sanitary valves with $5,833 per ton, zinc ingot with $3,138 per ton, lead ingots with $2,263 per ton, aluminum ingots with $2,529 per ton, ferroalloy with $1,250 per ton and copper ore and concentrate with $1,073 per ton.
Referring to hurdles in the way of exports, the IMIDRO official said restrictions imposed on the export of metal ores and mineral products in the form of customs duties, decline in demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the mandate obliging exporters to supply their products in mercantile exchange for domestic sales, in addition to sanctions, have challenged traders in advancing their medium- and long-term goals.
A total of 11.69 million tons worth $7.41 billion of steel were exported to 59 countries in the fiscal 2021-22 (ended March 20, 2022), IMIDRO reported earlier.
China, with 3.54 million tons worth $2.02 billion, accounted for 30.3% of Iran’s total exports in weight and 27.3% in value to top the list of export destinations.
It was followed by Iraq with 1.9 million tons (16.3%) worth $1.26 billion (17%), Indonesia with 1.7 million tons (14.5%) worth $1.09 billion (14.8%), Thailand with 1.17 million tons (10%) worth $750.12 million (10.1%) and the UAE with 724,170 tons (6.2%) worth $544.35 million (7.3%).
The Iranian Steel Producers Association earlier reported that 7.68 million tons of semi-finished steel products were exported from Iran in 2021-22, up 25% compared with the previous year.
Billet and bloom had the lion’s share of semis exports with an aggregate of 5.1 million tons, up 12% compared with the previous year’s corresponding period.
Slab exports amounted to 2.58 million tons during the period, up 62% year-on-year.
Exports of finished steel products grew by 20% to 3.4 million tons during the period.
Rebar accounted for the largest portion of finished steel products exported from Iran during the period, with 2.5 million tons. The total volume of Iran’s rebar exports experienced a 36% growth compared with the same period of last year.
Beam exports amounted to 145,000 tons during the period under review, down 15% YOY.
About 200,000 tons of L-beam, T-beam and other types were also exported from Iran during the period, up 6% YOY.
Hot-rolled coil exports amounted to 433,000 tons, registering a 20% decline compared with the year before.
Cold-rolled coil with 17,000 tons registered a 35% decline year-on-year and coated coil with 115,000 tons, up 46% YOY, which were the other finished steel products exported from Iran.
Exports of direct-reduced iron increased by 25% YOY to 1.06 million tons, ISPA figures show.
According to IMIDRO, Khouzestan Steel Company exported 2.05 million tons of steel products during the period to register a 37% year-on-year rise and top the list of Iranian exporters.
KSC's exports in the 12th month of last year stood at 454,815 tons, 225% higher compared with the same period of last year.
Mobarakeh Steel Company came next with 1.26 tons of exports during the 12-month period, up 1% YOY.
MSC exported 228,404 tons of steel products in the 12th month of the previous fiscal, down 50% YOY. It was followed by Esfahan Steel Company with 1.12 tons of exports, 16% higher YOY.
The company's exports during the month ending March 20 stood at 81,867 tons, 1% less YOY.
Khorasan Steel Company’s rebar registered the highest growth of 604% in export volume with 78,801 tons during the 12-month period. Khorasan Steel Company’s monthly rebar exports also registered the highest growth in terms of volume, with 6,801 tons of exports, up 293% YOY.
Mineral Riches
Iran is home to 81 types of minerals with reserves totaling 37-40 billion tons, according to Alireza Shahidi, the head of Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration of Iran.
“Construction materials, including gravel, rubble stones, sand and different types of stones, account for 62% of Iran’s mineral reserves, metal minerals constitute 10-15% of total reserves and the rest are non-metallic minerals,” he added.
According to the United States Geological Survey, Iran holds the world's largest zinc, ninth largest copper, 10th largest iron ore, fifth largest gypsum and barite, and 10th largest uranium reserves.
Overall, Iran is home to more than 7% of global mineral reserves.
“Iran’s standing rose to fifth place in terms of global ranking of copper reserves,” vice president for development and exploration of the National Iranian Copper Industries Company said recently, adding that until recently, the country had the seventh largest copper reserves in the world.
“With recent discoveries in Sungun and the addition of 1 billion tons of new reserves to the mine in East Azarbaijan Province, as well as the discovery of new reserves in other mines of the company, including Sarcheshmeh, Miduk and a new mine near Sarcheshmeh in Kerman Province, the volume of the company's copper reserves has increased from 18 billion tons to 19 billion tons,” Behrouz Rahmati was also quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
Sungun Complex, located in East Azarbaijan Province, is Iran’s largest copper mine.
Sarcheshmeh Copper Complex is the world’s second largest open cast copper mine located in Kerman Province. It also contains substantial amounts of molybdenum, gold and other rare metals.
“According to the United States Geological Survey’s latest report, following these explorations, the ranking of our country has risen to fifth place after Chile, Australia, Peru and Russia,” Rahmati said.
