Abdolhossein Bayat made the remarks in an interview with the Oil Ministry's official news agency on Sunday.
“Despite all challenges in the way of petrochemical products exports in 1391 (the current Iranian calendar year, started March 20, 2012), neighboring countries have demanded an increase in the export capacity of our country thanks to high quality and variety of the goods produced in petrochemical complexes of Iran,” Bayat stated.
He added that petrochemical products have had a 38-percent share in the non-oil exports of the country in the current (Iranian calendar) year.
He also expressed hope that petrochemical products’ exports can develop further in the following (Iranian calendar) year.
Iran has significantly expanded the range and volume of its petrochemical products over the past few years, and the National Iranian Petrochemical Company has become the second-largest producer and exporter of petrochemicals in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia.
The Islamic Republic exported a total of 18.2 million tons of petrochemical and polymer products, worth about USD 14.2 billion, to more than 60 countries in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended March 19, 2012).
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