Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 15
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran produced some 4.037 million tons of petrochemical products in the fifth calendar month of Mordad (July 22-Aug. 22).
The Islamic Republic exported 1.54 million tons of petrochemicals, worth $750 million in the mentioned month, meanwhile the domestic market supplied with 1.1 million tons of products worth 19.944 trillion rials (each USD makes 3500 rials on the free market).
The country produced 19.7 million tons of petrochemical products in the first five months of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21-Aug. 22) the official news agency of Iran 's oil ministry SHANA reported Sept. 15.
It is forecasted that some 50 million tons of petrochemicals to be produced in Iran during the current fiscal year (started on March 21), indicating six million tons rise year-on-year.
One million tons of the predicted increase will be materialized via inaugurating new petrochemical units, meanwhile five million tons will be added to the total output by increasing the operating units' efficiency, according to the report.
Iran's petrochemical output hit 44.4 million tons in the past Iranian fiscal year (ended on March 20), 10 percent more year-on-year.
The country's actual production capacity is around 60 million tons, but the shortage of natural gas as feedstock, old production units, and the problem of sanctions, which has dropped exports, have caused petrochemical complexes to work at lower capacities.
Edited by CN