TEHRAN (Dispatches) - An official with Iranian Oil Products Exporters’ Union said Ankara is in talks with Tehran to import bitumen.
"Turkey is in negotiations with Iran to import bitumen and meet its 3-million-ton annual demand,” Hassan Tajik, a member of the presiding board of the Union’s bitumen committee, told media.
Turkey’s consumption of bitumen 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 bitumen.
Iran exported 3.8 million tons of bitumen 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.