TEHRAN- Iran exported 27 million tons of petrochemical products worth $16 billion in the previous Iranian calendar year 1401 (ended on March 20), the managing director of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) announced.

Making the remarks in a press conference, Morteza Shahmirzaei also announced that 12 million tons of petrochemicals valued at over $10 billion were consumed inside the country during the past year.

Stating that the production of petrochemical products had good growth in 1401, as the country’s petrochemical output surpassed 69 million tons, the official said that according to the planning, if the feed of petrochemical complexes is sustainably supplied, the production of these products will reach 80 million tons this year.

He also announced that 10 new petrochemical complexes are planned to be inaugurated and start production this year, through them the country’s petrochemical production capacity will surpass 95 million tons per annum.

Diversification of export markets

Elsewhere in his remarks, Shahmirzaei stated that the petrochemical industry was successful in terms of production, as well as completing projects, and securing the country's required foreign currency in 1401, and added that new export markets for petrochemical products were defined and the achievements and capacities of the petrochemical industry were introduced to different countries in the previous year.

Since last year, many efforts have been made to introduce the products of Iran's petrochemical industry to the world, the NPC head reiterated and added that Iran's huge oil and gas reserves also support the long-term activity of the country’s petrochemical industry and the main advantage of this industry.

Completing production value chain

The official further announced that marketing Iran’s petrochemical products throughout the world is also on the agenda of the NPC’s activity this year, and mentioned completing the production value chain as another major program of the company this year.

“As we have previously announced, we will fully provide all the capacity of the National Petrochemical Company to the private sector and investors so that the plan to complete the value chain of the petrochemical industry will be realized”, he noted.

Shahmirzaei further referred to the slogan of the current Iranian calendar year, which is “Inflation Control, Production Growth”, and underlined that the NPC is one of the main addresses of this motto.

The official also announced that 75-80 percent of the materials, parts, and equipment required in the petrochemical industry are currently produced inside the country.

“In the field of catalysts, as we achieved noticeable successes in the past year and joined the exporters of these products in the world, we will continue this plan this year as well”, he added.

As previously stated by Shahmirzaei, currently, the petrochemical sector has the highest added value in the oil industry chain.

The petrochemical industry plays a crucial role in Iran’s non-oil economy, as petrochemical export is the second-largest source of revenue for the country after crude oil. Petrochemical exports already constitute nearly 33 percent of the country’s non-oil exports.

According to the NPC’s managing director, the petrochemical industry is a value and job-creating industry, which has no risk.