Tehran, Iran, June 30
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
“We have no problem regarding exporting petrochemical products to China, the problem exists only in [China] paying for the exported products,” said Iran’s petrochemical chief in a self-contradictory statement while trying not to admit that for months now the country is exporting petrochemicals to China without receiving any money in return.
“Things have gone to the point where top officials of the two countries are now engaged in talking the issue over,” Marzieh Shahdaei, head of the National Petrochemical Company told IRNA news agency June 30.
She did not suggest any improvement in the high-level talks, but went on to say that “maybe it is necessary for China to change some of its regulations.”
Mehdi Sharifi Niknafas, the head of Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company, in May said that China has adopted strict anti-money laundering policies that cause difficulties in transferring the money generated through Iran’s export of petrochemicals there.
According to the official, about 40 percent of Iran’s petrochemical exports go to China. The Middle Eastern nation’s total exports of petrochemicals over the last Iranian calendar year (ended March 20, 2017) amounted to 20.4 million tons.
