Page 19 - IRANRptAug18

Iran’s trade with South Korea hit as Seoul responds to US strictures
Iranian petrochemical exports hit value of $3.15bn in Q1 of Persian calender year
around the energy markets to make sure that people have the time." The Trump administration claims that more than 50 foreign companies have withdrawn from Iran since the sanctions were announced.
Trade between Iran and South Korea fell by 16.5% y/y to $5.126bn in the first six months of this year, ILNA reported the Korean Customs Service as saying on July 15. The Republic of Korea exported $1.72bn worth of goods to Iran in the first half of 2018, down 15% y/y. Its imports from Iran hit $3.4bn in the same time span, down 17% y/y. The decline in bilateral trade comes after a bumper 2017, with exports of Korean goods like electronics and vehicles flowing to Iran and exports of Iranian oil and petrochemicals heading to Korea. The Iran-South Korea trade volume hit $12bn last year, up 43.6% y/y. IMF figures show that the most valuable destination for Iranian exports in 2017 was China at towards €16bn. Third was India at just over €8bn, fourth was South Korea at a little more than €6bn and fourth was Turkey, also at slightly more than €6bn.
Iran produced 13.2mn tonnes of petrochemical products in the first three months of the Persian year (began on March 21) and exported 5.35mn tonnes of the goods with a value of $3.158bn, NIPNA reported on July 22. Petrochemical exports from Iran will, along with crude oil, be targeted by the second wave of US sanctions to be imposed on the country from November. No figures from last year were given by the report for comparison but Iran’s petrochemical exports have surged since the nuclear deal, which lifted heavy sanctions, was introduced in January 2016.
Plants operating at the Mahshahr petrochemical hub in southwestern Iran produced 4.59mn tonnes of products during the first quarter, the data showed. Other plants, including Asaluyeh in southern Iran, provided 5.86mn tonnes. Across the country, some 20 other petrochemical plants produced 2.7mn tonnes of petrochemical products during the period.
Of these sites, Khuzestan, Ehtemam Jam, Khorasan, Karbon Iran, Shimi Baft, Khark, Kermanshah, Noori, Morvarid, and Shiraz were the major producers.
5.1.3 Gross international reserves
Iran’s gold Imami sovereign breaks IRR25mn barrier amid dwindling hard currency supplies
Iran’s gold sovereign of choice, the Imami, has again broken the IRR25mn barrier as buyers continue to purchase remaining stocks of the officially minted 18-carat coin, IBENA reported on June 18.
Iranians’ attraction to gold as a safe haven has intensified with hard currency supplies dwindling in Iran following legal changes suddenly brought in in early April to arrest the stark descent of the Iranian rial (IRR), hit by souring sentiment over Iran’s economic prospects in the face of hostility from the US Trump administration. The move banned open market trading of foreign exchange and made unofficial rates illegal.
In early May, a World Gold Council report said that gold coin and bar demand in Iran shot up to a three-year high of 9.3 tonnes in the first quarter as Iranians —correctly—anticipated that the consequences of deteriorating relations with the US would cause Tehran to introduce currency controls.
The Azadi gold coin, the former number one sovereign sold by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), also reached a historic high on June 18, topping IRR24mn a coin, while smaller half-sovereigns increased in price accordingly.
According to the IMF in its Regional Economic Outlook on May 4, the
19 IRAN Country Report August 2018 www.intellinews.com