Iran exported 13.5 million tons of petrochemical products worth $5.6 billion during the first four months of the current Iranian fiscal year that started in March.
According to a report by Iran's Customs Administration, petrochemicals accounted for one third of non-oil exports shipped mainly to China, the UAE, Turkey, South Korea and India, ISNA reported.
Iran earned $14 billion from petrochemicals produced in the last Iranian year, including $9.4 billion from exports, mostly to China and Europe, according to data released by the state-run National Petrochemical Company.
The petrochemical sector is Iran's most prominent industry after oil and gas.
Nominal petrochemical production capacity is close to 60 million tons a year, with actual output reported at 40.5 million tons, 44.5 million tons and 45.6 million tons over the past three years. The volume is expected to reach 50 million tons in this fiscal that ends next March.
Iran has plans to double its petrochemical output capacity by 2020 and bump it to 180 million tons a year within the next decade.
The government presented 60 projects to potential investors in December at an event in Tehran with companies including BASF SE, the world’s largest chemical company by sales.
Experts say in order to strengthen its struggling economy, largely dependent on oil exports, Iran must move to use its crude and natural gas to produce a wide range of value-added petrochemical products with a higher profit margin.
The Oil Ministry is planning to establish a new body to regulate and coordinate petrochemical exports. According to Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, the new body will be founded under the auspices of the state-run National Petrochemical Company. It will seek, among other things, a bigger share in foreign markets following the removal of international sanctions against Tehran in January.
