BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 6
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
Despite the US sanctions, Iran’s exports via customs in the seven months (March 21-22 October) of this Iranian year (began March 21, 2019) increased by 17 percent compared to the same period last year, Director General of the Iranian Customs Administration, Iranian Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Mehdi Mirashrafi said, Trend reports citing ISNA.
Mirashrafi noted that 100 million tons of goods were released from customs in the reporting period, adding that 80 million tons of this volume are meant for export.
The director general said that 20 million tons of products were imported and the imports increased by 3 percent.
“Iran’s trade with foreign countries have reached $50 billion,” Mirashrafi noted.
The US imposed sanctions on Iran in November 2018 and expanded the list of sanctions in several stages.
Earlier, Ali Mohammad Bosaghzadeh, production control director at Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC), said that due to fall of crude oil exports, Iran will fill this gap with export of petrochemical exports.
The director noted that with the support of the government and large petrochemical holdings, it may be feasible to convert oil products to petrochemical products and export them this way.
Bosaghzadeh added that the petrochemical sector can substitute the country’s crude oil sector by 100 percent.