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Iran needs $8B petrochemical investment per year

Business Materials 24 August 2015 17:14 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 24

By Khalid Kazimov -- Trend:
Iran needs $8 billion investment in the petrochemical industry in order to materialize objectives outlined for 2021, CEO of the National Iranian Petrochemical Company Abbas Sheri Moqaddam said.

He said it is expected that after sanctions are removed, Iran would be able to use foreign investment and technology to improve its petrochemical industry, SHANA news agency reported August 24.

Right now business opportunities in the downstream petrochemical sector are not as good as they should be, he noted.
Moqaddam added that the fixed exchange prices are also a problem that cripples the petrochemical industry.

Exchange rates must shift in tune with inflation - excluding development rate, since fixed exchange rates encourage imports and cripple exports, he noted.

After a huge plunge in Iran 's both petrochemical production and export in 2012, the country re-boosted the figures, but are yet far from the ideal level.

Before sanctions were imposed in mid-2012, Iran was exporting about 21.226 million tons of petrochemical products worth $15 billion. But the figure decreased to 14.492 million tons in a fiscal year corresponding to 2012 and this level had been kept unchanged until last year, when the figure increased by 18.8 million tons.

During the first four months of the current fiscal year, started on March 21, Iran exported 8.171 million tons, remained unchanged year-to-year, while the production volume stood at 15.66 million metric tons.

The Islamic Republic of Iran and the group P5+1 (the US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany) reached a long-awaited comprehensive deal called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on July 14.

The sanctions are expected to be lifted by the end of 2015.

Edited by CN

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