TEHRAN - Iran has reported major increases in exports of certain petrochemicals and oil products in the calendar year that started in late March 2022.
An industry source said on Tuesday that petrochemicals shipment had accounted for $12 billion or 27% of Iran’s total exports in the 10 months to late January.
Hamdi Husseini, a senior member of Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters Union (OPEX), said oil products exports from Iran had reached $13 billion between March 2022 and January this year.
Husseini said that Iran had earned some $4.9 billion from exports of 6.6 million metric tons (mt) of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the nine months to late December, an increase of 120% compared to the same previous period.
He said exports of methanol from Iran had reached $1.8 billion for 6.8 million mt of shipments in the nine months to late December.
The businessman added that Iran had exported 1.6 million mt of urea worth $975 million in the nine calendar months to the end of 2022, adding that exports of polymers also increased by 77% over the same period.
A Tuesday report by the official IRNA news agency said that Iran had earned some $1 billion from exports of bitumen over the 10 months to late January.
The figures come amid Iran’s continued efforts to increase its exports of petroleum products and petrochemicals as a solution to avoid foreign sanctions affecting its direct crude oil exports.
Experts say the policy has strengthened Iran’s non-oil exports and led to the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs in the country.