The CEO of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC), Morteza Shahmirzaei made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the 18th Iran Plast International Exhibition here today, adding before the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 the country’s petrochemical sector with just five petrochemical plants was fully dependent on foreigners from designing to production.

He further said that Iran’s petrochemical sector owes 95 percent of its progress to after-revolution activities, adding the sector has taken great steps in the direction of domestic production of its technical know-how needs.

The CEO continued: Last year, the Iranian research and technology companies ranked first among the petrochemical know-how companies in the world given the number of contracts they could conclude in the fields of know-how, licensing, and catalyst production.

In 2022, Iranian knowledge-based companies exported more than 1500 varieties of catalysts and the country could end its 116 years of dependency on the product during less than three years of the 13th administration in office to August 2024, he said.

“By relying on Iranian young experts’ capabilities, we are determined to produce the remaining 15 percent of petrochemical goods and equipment at home over the next five years so that the flow of petrochemical commodities and equipment gets reversed and Iran becomes the hub of petrochemical products exports.” NPC’s CEO said.

He stated that the current petrochemical production capacity of the country stands at 96 million tons annually, adding this capacity will mount to 100 million tons before the end of this Iranian calendar year on 19 March 2025 by exploiting 20 planned projects of which 7 projects have come online so far.

The 18th edition of the Iran Plast International Exhibition kicked off today at the permanent location of Tehran International Exhibitions.

According to Shana, the 4-day event was convened in the presence of the CEO of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC), Morteza Shahmirzaei, several members of Parliament, some ambassadors, and several petrochemical industry managers.

The international exhibition covers different issues including raw materials and petrochemical products, technical engineering services, prefabricated and manufactured products, machinery and equipment, scientific, research and academic centers, HSE laboratory tests, information technology and digital transformation, masterbatch and granular services and polymer compounds.

525 domestic companies, 244 foreign companies plus 44 foreign companies’ representatives, mainly from China, Italy, Taiwan, Korea, Turkey, France, India, Germany, Spain, and Russia have participated in the event.

150 businessmen in the form of 12 business delegations are planned to visit the exhibition. During their visits, these businessmen mainly from Russia, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Belarus, Syria, Iraq, and Oman will examine the possibility of expanding cooperation with Iranian petrochemical companies.