According to Khabar Online economy correspondent studying the issue, for the same reason South Korea immediately denied reports on cutting imports of Iran's petrochemical products.
Following a two-day visit by the U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, who discussed imposing new sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran over its nuclear program, Seoul officials had said they are cautiously considering an import ban on Iranian petrochemical products, and were evaluating a possible impact of the ban, Reuters reported.
South Korea imported $350 million in Iranian petrochemicals last year, while exporting $450 million of its petrochemicals to Iran. The United States had requested a ban on imports of Iranian petrochemicals, but not on exports.
Regarding the situation of the world market one concludes that sanction on crude imports from Iran would severely damage international business as it would hike up oil prices, but cutting the imports of its petrochemical products would also endanger the world markets.
For the same reason perhaps the American and European statesmen have always tried to lead the media toward the notion of imposing sanction on Iranian crude not petrochemical products, to avoid negative impacts the latter action might bring.
Formerly Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi warned on using oil as a political leverage by the Islamic republic saying that through their reports on possible sanctions on Iranian crude as well as petrochemical products, foreign media aim to overshadow the economic situation of Iran and had already started a media play to prevent blocking Iranian crude imports, although ban on its petrochemical product would more gravely hit their economies.
The crude price at international markets is evaluated based on four key indexes. The rates of economy growth in China and India in the meantime are taken into consideration as criteria for estimating an average rate for the growth of the world economy, as a fall in their growth rate would cause several problems for the international economy.
The majority of minor industries in China and India are dependent on Iranian petrochemical products including polyethylene comprised of more than 20 types which could not be replaced even what exports from countries like Saudi Arabia which has an extensive petrochemical industry.
The National Iranian Petrochemical Company (NIPC) is responsible for the development and operation of the country's petrochemical sector.
Over these years, it has not only expanded the range and volume of its products, but it has also taken steps in areas such as R&D to achieve more self-sufficiency.
The Fourth Five-Year Plan (2005–10) calls for a fourfold expansion of petrochemical output, to 56 million tons per year.
Iran has a diversified basket with more than 70 products. The main exports are polyethylene, methanol, benzene, ammonia, sulphur, PVC and propylene. Iran exported $8.613 billion worth of different types of petrochemical products in Iranian year 2010-2011.
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