Armenia reduced its exports of copper ore and zinc concentrate, while increasing supplies of molybdenum concentrate

ArmInfo. In 2023 Armenia reduced its copper ore exports by 20.4%, amounting to 326.7 thousand tons compared to 4.4% decline in 2022.The customs value of copper ore also decreased by 27.1%, totaling to $483.1 million. 

According to the Customs Service, the majority of copper ore are exported to China (69.7%) and Bulgaria (19.6%), with smaller amounts going to Switzerland (3.7%), Iran (2.3%), Russia (1.3%), Georgia (1.1%), the UAE, Montenegro, Serbia and Singapore. Minimal volumes were sent to the markets of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Romania.  Zinc concentrate exports also decreased by 23.8% compared to a 2% decline the previous year, totaling to 8.9 thousand tons. Simultaneously, the customs value dropped by 34.2% - to $12.4 million. Just like the previous year, the entire volume was shipped to Belgium. 

During the reporting period, the export of molybdenum concentrate increased by 8.2%  reaching to 11.1 thousand tons compared to the 0.1% growth in 2022. The customs value also saw a notable increase of 48.4%, totaling $ 230.2 million. Armenia, primarily exported molybdenum concentrate to China (27.4%), Belgium (25%), the Republic of Korea (18.9%), Russia (18.3%), the Netherlands (6.9%) as well as Austria, Hong Kong, Greece, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Spain and Romania.  On the other hand, exports of ores containing precious metals declined by 6.2% in 2023, amounting to 19.3 thousand tons. The customs value also  decreased by 11.1% to $75.9 million. 

The majority of exported ores containing precious metals were sent to the Swiss market (62.2%), while the remaining portion was distributed to Malaysia (33.4%), Bulgaria (4.3%) and very small quantities were shipped to  Russia, China, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. 

In 2023, according to the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, copper concentrate production decreased by 5.8% to 289.6 thousand tons, zinc concentrate dropped by 17.9% to 8,161 thousand tons and molybdenum concentrate production increased by 4.6% to 23.4 thousand tons.