TEHRAN (IRNA) -- Iran plans to gain a one-million-ton share in China's bitumen market a year, said Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Derivatives Commercial Company Gholam-Reza Rabbani here on Tuesday.

Iran has a one-million-ton bitumen surplus a year which can be exported to China, which is to need three- to four-million tons of the product a year until the next five years, Rabbani told a press conference on sidelines of the Second Seminar of Opportunities and Challenges of Iran's Bitumen Exports.

Rabbani said the goal would be achievable through improving the standards of the product.

He said Iran is a major supplier of bitumen to Afghanistan with its exports showing 13-fold rise last year compared to the previous year.

Iran's bitumen exports rose by about 11 percent to 520,000 tons in the first eight months of the year (started on March 21) compared to the figure in the same period the previous year, said Rabbani.

Rabbani added that about 60 percent of Iran's bitumen are destined to the Persian Gulf littoral states, especially the UAE. The official denied reports that Iraqi bitumen found its way to Afghanistan via Iranian territory, saying the mishap has been suspended after war and possibly closure of refineries and insecurity in the country. ???????