Bans on Iran's petchem, CNDS exports seem eased before nuclear deal

The latest report from Iran indicates doubling the petrochemical products export over the past month. A report from the Iran Custom Administration shows a growth of about 214 percent, surpassing pre-sanctions levels.

There is not any concrete evidence to show the reason, but the Custom Administration's report last month indicates a twofold increase of condensate export in last two months of Iranian calendar year, compared to average of monthly condensate export during the year, surpassing pre-sanctions level as well.

The condensate and petrochemical products exports are vital for Iran because they share about a half of the country's total non-oil exports.

* The dates are based on Iranian calendar year, which started on March 20,2013.

The rapid rising of condensate and petrochemical products exports after the Iranian newly elected moderate President Hassan Rouhani took power in August seems to be resulted by the easing of some restrictive measures imposed by the West on Iran during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency.

When comparing the figures over the past two months with the same periods during last two years, we find no indication that these rises result from seasonal conditions.

The EU's petrochemicals-related sanctions on Iran started even several months earlier than oil-related ones.

As the result of sanctions, the country's petrochemical products and condensate exports declined by 32.88 percent and 12.56 percent respectively in value over a 12-month period extending from March 2012-March 2013, when compared to the previous year.

Some concessions including easing the West's sanctions over Iran's petrochemical productions exports are on the agenda after the country achieved a nuclear deal on November 24,2013.

But the huge increase of these products exports during last two months- while the nuclear agreement hasn't been implemented yet- shows the possibility of the West's olive branch for Iran to encourage it to behave in a more flexible manner in the nuclear talks.