Iran's petrochemical exports hits $12bn

Iran's petrochemical exports have witnessed considerable growth in the last Iranian year (ended March 20) after exporting $12bln worth of products, a senior Iranian official said."During the last [Iranian calendar] year, despite certain problems, Iran's petrochemical exports amounted to 16 million tons worth USD 12 billion, winning a significant share in (Iran's) non-oil exports," Managing-Director of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Abdolhossein Bayat said on Tuesday.He noted that nearly 60 countries, mainly from South and Southeast Asia, were customers of Iran's petrochemical products."Last year, foreign countries increased their demand for a variety of (Iranian) petrochemical products which is indicative of the significance of Iran's petrochemical industry at the international level," Bayat said.He said that Iran plans to establish three new petrochemical hubs in the near future, adding that the projects will turn Iran into Middle East's biggest petrochemical producer.Last week, Bayat said that "our neighboring countries are willing" to increase their petrochemical imports from Iran."Despite all the challenges petrochemical complexes faced over the current year, the neighboring countries demanded to raise their imports from Iran that was due to the quality and variety of petrochemical products produced in our country," Bayat said.