Fariborz Karimaei, Deputy Head of the Association of Petrochemical Industry Corporation, touched upon problems and constraints facing the Iranian polymer and petrochemical exports to the European Union (EU) member states saying “despite the passage of eight months since sanctions removal, banking issues have not been fully resolved.”
The official highlighted that lack of cooperation by European banks has curbed exports of Iranian petrochemical products to EU members asserting “meanwhile, Europe has the potential to account for 10 to 13% of the share in Iran’s petchem output.”
He noted that an aggregate total of 18.8 million tons of petrochemicals worth 9.6 billion dollars were shipped to world markets in the previous Iranian year (ended March 20); “nevertheless, Europe’s share if Iran’s petrochemical market remained close to zero until mid-March.”
“At the present time, the capacity exists to deploy 2 to 2.5 million tons of the Iranian product to European states per year,” underscored Karimaei adding “due to lack of support on the part of banks, other countries like Saudi Arabia have taken hold the Iranian market in Europe.”
The oil official went on to maintained that all Iranian petrochemical products have obtained necessary certificates from the European Union; “furthermore, ship supply problems and insurance issues for export cargos have almost been addressed,” he reiterated.
Deputy head of the Association of Petrochemical Industry Corporation recalled that the country’s petchem exports to Europe can be boosted immediately in case banking barriers are fully removed.
“Iran’s basket of petrochemical products is diversified and enjoys a high quality and many European states are after importing these products,” Fariborz Karimaei concluded.
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