Iran exported 15.2 million tons of petrochemicals and polymers, worth $6.5 billion, in the first nine months of the current fiscal year that roughly coincides with March-December, reported the Financial Tribune.
The lion's share of outbound petrochemical consignments went to Asia, Europe, and South America, Mehr News Agency reported on Tuesday.
Export of petrochemicals saw a rise in terms of net weight compared to the same period the year before, but declined in value terms, the report said without providing details.
Mehr cited a 50-60% drop in regional and global prices as the reason behind the fall in revenue from petrochemical exports.
Iran's petrochemical production in this fiscal has reached 37 million tons. The volume is expected to exceed 50 million tons by the year-end.
Tehran needs $72 billion in foreign investment for 80 major petrochemical projects in line with plans to triple petrochemical production over a decade.
Petrochemical production capacity is around 65 million tons a year. Tehran hopes to boost the capacity to 130 million tons per annum by 2020 before reaching its lofty goal of 180 million tons annually by 2025.
According to Marzieh Shahdaei, the head of Iran's National Petrochemical Company, Iran holds 38% of the petrochemical market in the Middle East, but only produces 4.8% of the world's petrochemicals despite sitting on some of the world's largest crude oil and natural gas reserves.
