Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 27/ Trend M. Moezzi
Iran's petrochemical industry has increased its exports despite sanctions through diversifying its customer base and domestically produced catalysts and chemicals, Mehr news agency quoted an industry official as saying.
Iran has expanded its market for petrochemical products to Latin America and East Asia to sidestep the effects of sanctions made by European countries, Ali-Mohammad Bossaghzadeh, the supervising production manager for the National Petrochemical Company, said.
The current high oil prices also mean higher prices for Iranian petrochemical exports. Iran also uses natural gas to process its petrochemicals. That means lower production costs and higher profits.
Since early this year (Iran's solar year ends on March 20), Iran has exported 16 million tons of petrochemical products worth about $12 billion, or 28 percent more in value than the same time period of last year.
The U.S and EU have ratcheted up the sanctions against Iran. They have embargoed Iran's oil industry. The U.S. is pressuring other countries to stop doing business with Iran.
The West's measures are part of an effort to make Iran answer the questions about its nuclear program. It says that it is peaceful and civilian in nature.