Iran increases iron ore export to China

Recently, Iran has been striving to increase the exports of iron ore and products to China and India, trying to replace at least a small part of the mass revenues that were lost due to sanctions regarding the sale of oil.

Although Iranian oil exports have been reduced by half over the past few years due to Western sanctions due to the controversial nuclear program of the country, iron ore exports increased by more than 60 percent over the same period to an annual level of about $ 25 million in the amount of about 3 billion US dollars per year in current prices. Iran receives an additional billion dollars a year from an increase in iron ore exports, however, this amount is still very small compared to the loss of oil revenues, which amounted to approximately $ 35 billion per year.

The representative of the National Iranian Oil Company Mehdi Varzi said that "sanctions forced Iran to pay attention to other methods of earnings, except for oil and gas exports, and the mineral sector cope with this very well. I know that there was a significant increase in the export of iron ore." Iran overtook India, becoming the fourth largest iron ore supplier to China last year.

From the beginning of the year, iron ore exports from Iran increased by 35 percent to 13.4 million tons in seven months in July, according to the Chinese customs service. In addition, on the terms of anonymity, the Iranian source said that "we sell more iron to India and China. Some of the money does not come directly to Iran due to currency problems, therefore, in certain cases, barter transactions are carried out, otherwise the goods are paid mainly in cash."