Disagreements Over Polymer Prices in Competition Committee
On Monday June 30th, the Competition Committee convened on the polymer products. This was not the committee’s only session on polymers, neither will it be the last, because the sources of supplying polymer products and prices are going to be decided by the Competition Committee.
The day’s session focused on whether to make the supplies based on free or exchange currency rates.
In the AhmadiNejad administration, polymers used to be offered on the stock market based on exchange rates. But as the Rouhani administration took office, Deputy Minister of Industry Mojtaba Khosrotaj issued a circular that said the products should be calculated based on free rates of foreign currencies and then offered in the market.
Two big industrial organizations made the best of the meeting: The APIC (Association for Petrochemical Industry Companies) as the upstream body and the NCUP (National Cooperatives Union of Suppliers) as the downstream. The two proposed their interests in considering exchange currency rates for polymer products.
Rezazadeh, chairman of NCUP has many times stated as one of his goals to offer polymer products based on exchange rates. The session was the best opportunity for him to meet his goal.
But Mohtashamipour, CEO of PDID (Petrochemical Downstream Industries Office), said later that the Competition Committee has refuted the two bodies’ demand.
By making the announcement before an official statement by the committee, Mohtashamipour tried to prevent a shock to the market, and probably to preclude a stagnant market in the coming weeks.
In reaction, a member of a polymer industry organization said on condition of anonymity, “With all respect, Mr. Mohtashamipour is not the spokesman of the committee. Based on what the chairman and members of the committee have many times said, the body’s regulations are reliable only after official statements. The National Petrochemical Company’s intervention was a proper act to keep the market calm, but it would better had used its governmental standing to remove ambiguities about the market rather than by divulging the poll of the Competition Committee on a particular topic.”
He said the committee has not approved Mohtashamiopur’s statements, relegating any comments to the chairman of the committee.
Iranian officials have maintained that double rates for currency will lead to corruption. Fixing rates will put an end to the corruption. It will lead to both petrochemical feed and products prices fairly distributed among interested sides.
It seems the government is steadfastly pursing its path and approaching its goal day by day. It is reported that in a recent meeting between Mercantile Exchange Market CEO Hamed Soltaninejad and Industry Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, the minister stressed the optional nature of offering petrochemicals in the stock market.
