Hassan Abbaszadeh, deputy petroleum minister and
head of National Petrochemical Company (NPC), told the opening ceremony of the
19th IranPlast exhibition that polymers, with higher added value than many base
chemicals, must form the core of petrochemical development strategies.
“Iran’s petrochemical industry today is
synonymous with the polymer sector,” he said. “Polymers have increasingly
replaced steel and other traditional materials in automotive, construction and
household goods, and they generate value of over $1,000 per tonne, compared
with $300-600 for some base chemicals.”
Iran’s total petrochemical capacity stands at 100
million tonnes a year, Abbaszadeh said, adding that downstream polymer
industries can generate “tens of thousands of jobs” per unit of output,
compared with the high capital intensity of upstream plants.
He said the 7th Plan focuses on high-value
engineering polymers, where Iran still lags behind despite large-scale
production of polyethylene and polypropylene. Investments worth more than $400
million are already under way in the PVC chain, with new projects targeting
polyurethanes, high-impact polystyrene, polycarbonates and other advanced
grades.
Citing global trends, Abbaszadeh said polymer
output, which was 400 million tonnes in 2020, is projected to hit one billion
tonnes by 2050, with packaging, construction and textiles driving demand.
Iran hosts more than 15,000 small and medium
enterprises in downstream plastics, employing around 1.5 million people. Last
year, 7 million tonnes of products were offered on the Iran Mercantile and
Energy Exchange, 38% of them through credit sales worth 122 trillion rials
($2.4 billion), to ease liquidity pressures on smaller firms, he said.
NPC has also identified $2 billion worth of imports
that could be substituted by domestic production through new investment
packages, he said, highlighting opportunities in the propylene chain beyond
polypropylene, such as polyols and isocyanates.
Environmental pressures are also shaping global
markets, Abbaszadeh warned. “Plastic pollution has become a major concern in
Europe and other regions, and strict regulations will affect our future
markets,” he said. He added that Iran must reduce its carbon footprint and
develop recycling infrastructure, noting weaknesses in waste separation at
source.
“The petrochemical industry cannot ignore the
global trend toward renewables and green feedstocks,” he said. “If we can bring
part of used plastics back into production, we both reduce environmental damage
and create more added value.”
Abbaszadeh also pointed to the importance of
avoiding short-term or unhealthy management decisions, saying IranPlast had
gone ahead despite calls to postpone or cancel it.