Almost $25 billion worth of gas condensate and petrochemical products were exported during the first ten months of the current Iranian year (ends March 20), indicating 40% growth when compared with the same period last year, the government spokesman announced Wednesday.
In the first ten months of last year, $9.2 billion worth of petrochemicals was exported while the figure has surged to $12.8 billion in the current year, showing 39 percent rise, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht was quoted by Shana news agency as saying.
Also, Iran's export of gas condensate totaled $12.1 billion in the period between March 21, 2014 and January 21, 2015. "Our gas condensate export has increased 41 percent compared with the same period last year," Nobakht stated.
Export of gas condensate from South Pars Phases 15 and 16 has just started. Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) announced on Monday that 500,000 barrels of condensate from the two phases have been loaded and shipped to overseas markets. Next year's budget has stipulated 537 trillion rials ($20.1 billion) in revenues from exports of crude oil, gas, and gas condensates.
Going into details of petrochemical exports, Nobakht added that export of polyethylene, propane, butane, methanol, and bitumen rose 39%, 85%, 42%, 28%, and 20%, respectively in the 10-month period.
"Our export to China has gone up 48%, while exports to Iraq, UAE, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and Hong Kong have increased from 5% to 49%," the official noted.
Industrial exports in the March-January period have increased to $10.6 billion from $10.2 billion in the same period of the previous year, according to Nobakht.
Altogether, he said, while Iran's exports to Asia, Europe, and Australia rose 14%, 34.4% and 55.8%, respectively, exports to the United States plummeted 23% in the same period.
Speaking about the resources of the National Development Fund of Iran, the government spokesman said that only $7.13 billion has been added to the fund's reserves in the first half of the current Iranian year. "NDFI's balance in the six-month period stood at almost $50 billion," he said.
The total amount of deposits in NDFI for loans surpassed $50 billion. "This money will go entirely to the private sector," said Nobakht.
