Seyed Jalal Mirhashemi told Shana about the impact of COVID-19 on the petrochemical industry: "Fortunately, with the measures taken, about 6% increase in petrochemical production has been achieved in the first 10 months of this [calendar] year compared to the same period last year."

About three percent of this production growth is related to the increase in production of existing units, and the other part is due to new plants, he said.

Emphasizing the upward trend of production in the petrochemical industry, he added: "I hope the production of this industry will reach about 61 million tons this year, which undoubtedly, in the absence of coronavirus, we would have seen more growth in the industry's output.”

The NPC official pointed to the full observance of hygienic instructions during the outbreak of coronavirus in petrochemical complexes, adding: “Petrochemical units have also had a very good cooperation in observing hygienic requirements and producing hygienic materials and equipment.”