Hossein Alimorad, speaking Monday at the third Iran Petrochemical Value Chain Conference, stated that the petrochemical industry today is more than just a manufacturing sector. "This industry is the backbone of economic and industrial development for developing countries, including Iran," he said.

Alimorad noted that regional countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, do not face the same challenges as Iran, such as international sanctions that restrict access to up-to-date technical knowledge and create obstacles in production resources, commerce and sales.

"These countries have increased their share in global markets by making huge investments in research and development, utilizing international resources and focusing on downstream chains," he said.

Moving away from base material exports

Alimorad emphasized that Iran must distance itself from base material exports and optimally use its potential to maintain its standing. He said the industry should focus on developing the value chain, especially for methanol and propylene.

Global methanol production capacity, a strategic product, has surpassed 140 million metric tons, with the majority produced in China, the Middle East and North America. While Iran is one of the world's largest methanol producers with a capacity of more than 16 million metric tons, its share of methanol value chains is very small.

"Of the nearly 10 million metric tons of methanol produced in the last Iranian calendar year (, only 500,000 metric tons were consumed by domestic petrochemical complexes," Alimorad said.

He also highlighted a significant supply-demand gap for propylene domestically. Petrochemical units producing propylene are operating at 74% of their nameplate capacity, and propylene chain products account for 70% of the country's $2 billion in petrochemical product imports – nearly $1.4 billion is spent on propylene branch imports. Projects like the PDH Salman Persian are in their final stages to help reduce this gap.

Increasing development speed through smartization

The smartization and digitalization of the value chain can accelerate development in downstream industries, Alimorad stated. The National Petrochemical Co., as a key authority in value chain development, has prioritized several measures. These include increasing the ratio of downstream products to total petrochemical production capacity, reducing raw material exports, increasing exports of derivatives and value-added products, creating balance in the propylene chain, raising the industry's share of GDP from 1% to over 3%, and attracting domestic and foreign investment.

Alimorad outlined three approaches for the company: stabilizing the current situation and methanol chain production, growing and developing the propylene chain, and developing the ethylene and aromatics chain by completing downstream loops and increasing exports alongside creating sustainable employment.

On competing with regional countries, he said completing the value chain, increasing exports from $13 billion to $20 billion, and raising the industry's share in Iran's economic growth are company goals. Achieving these, he said, could help stabilize the foreign exchange rate and inflation and create opportunities for foreign investment attraction.