Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar.15
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran's petrochemical exports to Asian markets are rising, the Shana News Agency quoted Mohammad-Hossein Peyvandi, the deputy head of the National Iranian Petrochemical Company, as saying on March 15.
Easing sanctions on Iran are already driving up Iran's petrochemical sales to Asia, Peyvandi said in his interview with The Wall Street Journal.
"We have [made] some progress in selling petrochemicals to Asia. Petrochemicals are one of the country's main sources of exports revenue after crude oil," Peyvandi added.
The official said NIPC started to contact EU companies and is planning to invite them to a petrochemicals conference in June in Tehran.
On March 5, IRNA quoted National Iranian Petrochemical Company's production manager Ali Mohammad Bassaqzadeh as saying that Iran will be able to export petrochemical products to Europe once the international sanctions are lifted.
The products will be exported not only to Asian and African countries, but also to European countries, Bassaqzadeh added.
Bassaqzadeh said that by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), the country's petrochemical output will hit 40 million tons.
Under the sanctions, we used to export petrochemical products to Europe indirectly through intermediates, he said, adding that lifting the sanctions will facilitate the trend of exports to Europe.
Bassaqzadeh didn't mention which sanctions should be eliminated to make Iran able to export petrochemicals to Europe.
Iran's petrochemical exports surpassed $9.19 billion during the first ten months of the current solar year (started on March 21, 2013), the country's customs administration reported on Jan. 25.
The country's petrochemical exports stood at $8.116 billion during the first nine months of the current solar year, which indicates a 2.3 percent decrease compared to the same period of the preceding year.
Western countries suspended certain sanctions against Iran as the Geneva nuclear deal entered into force on Jan. 20.
The prohibition on the import, purchase or transport of Iranian petrochemical products and related services was suspended as a result of the nuclear deal implementation.
The exports of Iran's gas condensates stood at $ 8.520 billion as of the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year, according to the country's custom administration's report.