Iran Mulling Replacement of Crude with Mineral Products for Exports

Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Reconstruction and Development Base Brigadier General Ebadollah Abdollahi underlined the necessity for replacing oil supplies with mineral exports, given the falling crude prices in the international markets.
“Given the low oil prices, we consider the mining industries as an alternative for crude exports and we should develop a condition under which we won’t need oil anymore,” Abdollahi said in a press conference in Tehran on Monday.

Referring to the western sanctions against Iran, he said, “We have been sanctioned for 35 years and we cannot say that the sanctions have had no impacts, but we shouldn’t surrender to the sanctions and should resist mightily and use our domestic capabilities.”

Many Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, have underlined the country’s plans to boost non-oil exports in a bid to cut dependence on crude.

“One of the most important topics of the government’s economic plans is increasing non-oil exports and this growth will help our economy,” Rouhani said in Tehran on December 7, addressing an open session of the parliament in which he presented the budget bill for the next Iranian year (to start on March 21) to the legislative body.

“We hope to see a considerable share of non-oil exports next year and by continuing this trend, (the country’ revenues from) non-oil exports will surpass $50bln,” he added.

President Rouhani also said that the government was seriously pursuing development of the country’s infrastructures and increase of economic growth.

Iran’s Customs Administration announced in November that the country’s non-oil exports had witnessed significant growth in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21- October 22).

The value of Iran’s non-oil exports amounted to over $27 billion in the seven months of the current year, a report by the Customs Administration said.

It noted that 55 million tons of commodities have been exported during the same period.