BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 17
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend
The prices for Iranian oil products and petrochemicals have increased relatively, said Hamid Hosseini spokesman of the Iranian Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union (OPEX), Trend reports citing ISNA.
According to Hosseini, Iran's oil export market has now improved to some extent. Thus, the price of 1 barrel of gasoline has increased from $15 to $25.
Hosseini added that the coronavirus has caused significant damage to Iran, where oil products and petrochemicals account for the bulk of exports.
The spokesman said that this is also reflected in Iran's exports. Thus, in the first month of the current Iranian year (March 20-April 19, 2020), Iran's exports decreased by 39 percent in terms of weight and 36 percent in terms of value.
Hosseini said that the value of Iran's products export was $3.58 billion in the last month.
"Currently, the export of petroleum products and petrochemical products faces two problems. The first, the cost of oil and petrochemical products decreased due to changes in the oil market, the second, the introduction of quarantine regimes in the countries and the suspension of markets have affected the sale of oil products," he said.
Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 118,300 people have been infected and 6,937 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 93,100 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.
The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.
The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.