Tehran, Iran, Jan. 23
By Kamyar Eghbal – Trend:
The volume of exports of plastic industry of Iran has dropped due to the recent hike in the rate of US dollar against the national currency, rial, as well as the surge in the global prices of oil, an industry official told Trend.
The head of Iran National Plastic and Polymer Industries Association, Biouk Sahaf, has said that the country exported worth of $800 million of plastic products over the first nine months of the current fiscal year (starting March 20).
Saying that the figure has dropped by two percent compared to the same period of the last year, he added Iran exported worth of $1.09 billion of plastic products over the fiscal year 2016/17.
Elaborating on the reasons behind the fall in the exports of plastic products and the negative role of the surge in the rate of US dollar in the domestic market, he said that the petrochemical companies calculate the price for selling raw materials to plastic producers in US dollar according to the free market rats.
As a result the prices of the final products are much higher compared to the output of rivals when it comes to competition in the international market.
The rate of the greenback in the Iranian free market surged by 21.33 percent over the current year.
Speaking about the gap between the official rate of the US dollar and free market rate in the domestic market, he added back in the fiscal 2014/15 the gap between the free market and official rates was much less than the current rates. Therefore, Iran managed to export worth of $150 million of pipe to the Central Asia.
However, the value of the exports of pipe nowadays is less than $15 million due to higher currency rates.
The gap between the official and free market rates of the US dollar against the Iranian rial on Tuesday was about 23.8 percent.
The Turkish rivals also grabbed a larger share from the market as they had access to inexpensive raw materials, he believes so.
Biouk Sahaf further added that the higher oil prices have contributed to surging prices of raw materials in the domestic market, as well.
According to the official the prices of raw materials in Turkey are about 20 percent cheaper than the Iranian market.