Georgia bans bitumen imports from Iran, says Tehran

Georgia has banned imports of bitumen from Iran, according to Tehran.

Bitumen and other infrastructure-related commodities like clinker, rebar and cement, were classified as items that would not be imported from Iran from February. As a result, bitumen exports from Iran to Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia have declined.

"Our bitumen producers located in Tabriz [in northwest Iran] were unhappy about the export ban that has happened in neighboring countries such as Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey," said an Iranian source.

Iran exported around 105,000t and 35,000t to Georgia and Armenia respectively before 2018, based on industry statistics. Since then, higher availability of cargoes from countries like Russia could have resulted in reduced exports from Iran.

"Our buyers have switched to import bitumen from Socar in Azerbaijan, then Russia and Iraq instead of Iran over the past year," said a market source.