Annual and statistical reports: Tight competition of Iran’s bitumen with global exporters and producers

According to the World of Petroleum and Bitumen Journal, it is important to point out that bitumen is one of the by-products of crude oil refining, which is obtained as “distillation tower residue” and has various uses in different industries. More than millions of tons of bitumen are used in the world, about 50% of which is consumed in Asia.

In 2014 and 2015, the export volume of bitumen producing and exporting countries in the world reached 25 million tons, which is equivalent to 15 billion dollars, and the countries of South Korea, Singapore, Iran, Canada and Spain are respectively the largest exporters of bitumen in the world.

The total import volume of bitumen in the world is 24 million tons, and China, the United States, India, France and Indonesia are among the largest bitumen importing countries in the world.

With the production of about six million tons of bitumen per year and the export of four million tons of bitumen, Iran has always enjoyed a special position in the world market as the fourth largest producer and third largest exporter of bitumen in the world.

With the consumption of 27 million tons of bitumen in the last few years, China has always been known as the largest bitumen consumption market in the world, which supplies more than four million and 700 thousand tons of this amount, which is equivalent to 18% of the total amount of consumption, through imports. Based on the economic development plans of the Chinese government, very large infrastructure projects have been defined, especially in the field of highways and local access roads in this country. It is expected that the amount of bitumen consumption in this country will reach more than 30 million tons per year in the next five years.