TEHRAN – Iran exported over $3.320 billion worth of polymer products in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), registering a 23-percent rise year on year, a board member of Iran National Plastic and Polymer Industries Association (INPIA) said.

Speaking at a press conference on the international conference of promoting exports of polymer products in Tehran on Wednesday, Barmak Ghanbarpour said that polymer industry accounted for 73 percent of the total value of the non-oil exports made by the country’s industrial sector in the previous year, IRNA reported.

“Iran's total non-oil export was 48 billion dollars last year, and the share of polymer industries from the total non-oil export is estimated at seven percent,” Ghanbarpour said.

According to the official, currently, 8,000 production units are active in this industry which have a total production capacity of 13 million tons.

He noted that the annual import of raw materials for the polymer industry is about five million tons which indicates that there is eight million tons of idle capacity in this industry.

The international conference on promoting the exports of polymer products will be held next Iranian calendar month Mordad (begins on July 23) for the second consecutive year with the aim of exploring issues and challenges in the country's polymer industries and exchanging views on ways of increasing exports.

According to Reza Tofiqi, the secretary of the conference, export-oriented production is the key to the development of industrial units in the polymer industry.

“By learning about new export markets, we also become more active in the domestic markets and this will reduce the production costs and consumer prices and is a great economic advantage,” Tofiqi said.

The official further mentioned the capacity of the country’s petrochemical industry, saying: “The feedstock needed by the polymer industry is provided, to a large extent, within the country by domestic petrochemical complexes.”

He pointed out that the international conference on promoting polymer products exports is trying to develop export-oriented investment, saying: “By doing this, we will maintain a significant part of the added value in the country's economy, which will increase the country's gross production and lead to economic development.”

Introducing Iran's polymer export capacities and opportunities, identifying new target markets, and getting acquainted with the laws and regulations of the mentioned countries are also among the topics explored in the mentioned conference.

EF/MA