TEHRAN- The managing director of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) said that completing the value chain is not a motto, while it is a top agenda of the NPC’s activities, it is a program and a duty.

Referring to the rapid development of the petrochemical industry from basic products to the end of the value chain in the 13th government, Morteza Shah-Mirzaei reiterated: "Completing the value chain of the petrochemical industry is not a slogan; As an inviolable strategy, it is a task, plan and duty that my colleagues are following up with all their efforts.”

He made the remarks in a press conference on the sidelines of the 17th International Exhibition of Plastic, Rubber, Machinery, and Equipment (Iran Plast 2023), which kicked off at the Tehran Permanent International Fairground on Sunday.

The official further put the country’s petrochemical production capacity at over 92 million tons, and said: “Today we are almost self-sufficient in the main petrochemical sectors including products and equipment.”

Iran's petrochemical industry accounts for 28 percent of the region's petrochemical capacity and 2.7 percent of the world's petrochemical capacity, the NPC head announced.

Stating that Iran's petrochemical industry exported more than 16 billion dollars of petrochemical products to the world markets last year, he added that the products supplied to the world markets are in excess of the domestic demand, because the priority of the petrochemical industry is to meet the domestic needs in order to complete the value chain.

He pointed to the development of energy diplomacy in the 13th government and said the activity program in offshore petrochemical industries is being followed seriously and good successes have been achieved in this regard. With the expansion of relations with neighboring and aligned countries, other countries have demanded the supply of catalysts, equipment and machinery from Iran.

It should be announced that before the above-mentioned press conference, seven cooperation documents worth $58 million were signed between the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone Organization and domestic companies in order to deal with the sanctions and develop the knowledge-based economy and complete the petrochemical value chain.

Iran Plast 2023 is being held with the approach of developing the value chain, supporting national production, and promoting domestic manufacturing in an area of 3,200 square meters.

The inaugural ceremony of the exhibition was attended by a number of senior officials, including Oil Minister Javad Oji, Shah-Mirzaei, Deputy Oil Minister for Planning Affairs Houshang Falahatian, some MPs and ambassadors, and those active in the petrochemical industry.

Shah-Mirzaei emphasized: “The 20-fold increase in the number of foreign guests at the 17th Iran Plast Exhibition means that threats and economic sanctions have no place in this industry and that we have crossed these boundaries.”

The value-creating, job-creating and currency-creating petrochemical industry has started a leaping and revolutionary movement, the official stressed.

As stated by the director of Iran Plast, the exhibition is a successful model for extensive cooperation among polymer complexes, downstream petrochemical industries, and capable Iranian manufacturers.

According to Farid Dousti, this exhibition can facilitate the path to complete the value chain in the petrochemical industry.

Iran Plast exhibition is one of the important events in the market of domestic and regional polymer products, which is held with the aim of developing and completing the value chain of the petrochemical industry, supporting national production and promoting domestic manufacturing, the official said.

As the biggest event in the petrochemicals and plastics industry in West Asia, Iran Plast was held for the first time in 2002 on the initiative of NPC in order to boost the domestic plastics industry market, facilitate the global marketing process, and present in global markets.

Like the previous years, this edition of the exhibition also covers four major areas including raw materials, machinery, and equipment, final and semi-finished products as well and services.