Iran's share in Middle East petrochemical market hits 21%

 Iranian petrochemical plants have increased their market share in the Middle East, a senior energy official announced on Sunday.
"A sum of 21 percent of the Middle East's petrochemical market share belongs to Iran," Managing Director of the National Iranian Petrochemical Company (NIPC) Abbas Sheri Moqaddam said.
He said after Iran stopped its direct exports of petrochemical products to Europe in recent years, the country's target markets shifted to Asia and the Middle East.
Iran has significantly expanded the range and volume of its petrochemical products over the past few years, and the NIPC has become the second largest producer and exporter of petrochemicals in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia.
Iran exports petrochemical products to more than 60 countries. The main destinations include the Far East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa.
Last year, NIPC's former Managing Director Abdolhossein Bayat announced that Iranian petrochemical plants will have a 41 percent share of the Middle-East's petrochemical production in 7 years time.
"Iran will have a share of 41percent in the Middle East's petrochemical output by 2020," Bayat said.
He noted that Iran has currently a share of 25 percent in production of the Middle East's petrochemical products.