Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The foreign countries started to consider the Iranian market on the backdrop of the tendency towards the normalization of the West-Iran ties.

Two Chinese companies will participate in building a pellet plant in Iran's southern Bafq region, ILNA news agency reported.

Chinese MCC and CIE companies are participating in the project within Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Financing Contract (EPCF).

The plant with a capacity of 5 million tons per year is expected to cost €219 million. The Bafq pellet plant is scheduled to be inaugurated by July 2016.

Iran holds three percent of the world's mineral reserves which puts the country first in the Middle East and third in Asia. Iran ranks among the 15 major mineral-rich countries of the world and exports its industrial and mineral products to 159 countries, including Iraq, China, the United Arab Emirates, India and Afghanistan.

The important mines of Iran include coal, metallic minerals, sand and gravel, chemical minerals and salt. The country has the world's largest zinc and second largest copper deposits and ranks ninth for its iron reserves.

Besides, three Chinese companies are in talks with three producers of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Iran to purchase LPG.

China resumed its LPG imports from Iran in June 2013 after a one-year break. Over the past years, China has been a regular importer of Iranian LPG.