Iran-China trade volume up in Jan-Aug, Iran's petchem exports surge in H1

According to media reports, the trade volume between Iran and China surged 24% to reach $24 billion in the first 8 months of this year.

Trade volume between the two countries reached $24.17 billion during the January-August period in 2017, showing an increase from last year’s reading of $19.5 billion

The rise was mostly attributed to China’s export volumes to Iran, which increased by 18.1% to reach $12.04 billion.

In the polymer and petrochemical industry, however, Iran’s polymer exports to China decreased by 5% in the first 8 months of this year, according to ChemOrbis Import Statistics. This is despite the fact that the trade volume between China and Iran was up considerably and Iran’s overall petrochemical and polymer exports rose by 12% in tonnage during the first six months of 2017 from the same period of 2016, according to a report released by Iran’s National Petrochemical Company.

In terms of value, the overall petrochemical and polymer exports also rose by $1.2 billion to $5.57 billion in the same timeframe. Accordingly, Iran’s total revenue from petrochemical exports reached $9.55 billion while the country’s petrochemical output was 5% higher from last year to be reported at 27 million tons.

The report also showed the country exported a major part of its petrochemical output to India, China and South Korea.

Iran is reportedly aiming to increase its current 5.55 million tons of output from its petrochemical complexes to 11.4 million tons as of March 2018.