Petrochemical revenues from the export of 22 million tons of products have reached $15 billion during the first 11 months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2022-Feb. 19), the National Petrochemical Company’s director for planning and development said.
“Out of this amount, 90% were injected into the secondary foreign exchange market, locally known as Nima,” Hassan Abbaszadeh was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
Nima is an online platform affiliated to the Central Bank of Iran where exporters sell their overseas currency income and companies buy for importing machinery, equipment and raw materials.
According to the official, the sector’s total earnings in the last fiscal year stood at $15 billion and 65 petrochemical companies contributed $13 billion of their revenue to Nima.
“Revenues of Iran’s petrochemical industry are projected to increase by $4 billion compared to last Iranian year [March 2021-22] and reach $19 billion by the end of the current fiscal year [March 2023],” he said.
Last year, petrochemical feedstock increased and 5 million tons were added to the production capacity of the petrochemical industry.
Abbaszadeh noted that the annual output is now around 35 million tons and will approach 40 million tons by the end of 2023, which will increase revenues.
“Our focus is to complete the value chain of petrochemical products so that we can reduce the sale of raw materials and semi-finished products, create more added value and eliminate the need for imports, which currently stand at $1.5-2 billion,” he added.
Referring to investments in the petrochemical industry, Abbaszadeh said, “Due to the lower attraction of foreign investments in the past few years, the main burden has been borne by holding companies and they invest about $4 billion annually in the petrochemical sector.”