Page 22 - IRANRptAug21

5.1.2 Import/export dynamics
Iran’s non-oil goods foreign trade up 47% to $29bn in first four months of Persian year
Iran’s non-oil exports rise 48% to $6.3bn in first two months of Persian year
Iran, UAE trade forecast to hit $20mn
Iran’s non-oil goods foreign trade reached a value of $29bn during the first four months of the current Persian year (March 21-July 22), marking an increase of 47% y/y, Mehdi Mirashrafi, head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (Irica), was cited as saying by the Tehran Times on July 31.
Exports were put at $14.3bn, up 65% y/y, meaning Iran recorded a trade deficit of $0.4bn.
Major exported goods included liquefied gas, polyethylene, semi-finished steel products, methanol, gasoline, steel ingots, liquid propane, bitumen and copper cathode.
The main export destinations included China (goods worth $4.3bn), Iraq ($2.8bn), the UAE ($1.6bn), Turkey ($923mn) and Afghanistan ($728 million.)
Iran’s non-oil exports reached a value of $6.3bn in the first two months of the current Persian year (started March 21), marking a 48% y/y gain, IRIB has reported, quoting the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA).
Imports valued at $6.5bn entered the country in the same period, recording a 26.5% y/y rise, according to the data provided by customs chief Mehdi Mir-Ashrafi.
The impact of coronavirus crisis restrictions on trade in the early months of the 2020/2021 Persian year, which created a low base, can be seen in the data. Iran was one of the first countries outside of China to declare that it was experiencing a severe coronavirus outbreak.
A top five of countries accounted for 73% of Iran’s non-oil exports in terms of value. They were China at $2bn of exports, Iraq at $953mn, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at $849mn, Turkey at $388mn and Afghanistan at $365mn. For imports, the top five were the UAE, which shipped goods worth $1.8bn, China at $1.5bn, Turkey at $642mn, Germany at $285mn and Switzerland at $283mn.
Iran’s exported non-oil commodities included gasoline, polyethylene, methanol, iron and steel ingots and steel products, according to Mehdi Mir-Ashrafi. Mobile phones, corn, sunflower oil, meal, wheat, soybeans, rice, barley, sugar and crude soybean oil were the most imported items during the two-month period. These 10 items accounted for 33% of the total value of imports. Mir-Ashrafi also noted that over 1.842mn tonnes of goods were transited through Iran in the said period, registering a 142% y/y increase.
Annual trade between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is forecast to reach $20bn by the end of the current Persian calendar year of 1400 (ends March 20, 2022), according to the Iran-UAE Joint Chamber of Commerce.
Presently, bilateral trade stood at around $14.3bn, up around 7% y/y—with exports from Iran accounting for around one third of the trade value—while both Abu Dhabi and Tehran were targeting a volume of $30bn by 2025, its figures showed. Only China and Iraq take more Iranian exports than the UAE. Iranian businesses have a major presence in the UAE, with thousands of Iranian traders registered there.
US sanctions increasingly hindered trade flows between Iran and the Emirates during the Trump administration, with trade in agricultural products and foodstuffs suffering the least impact from sanctions, the Chamber said. Trump officials several times briefed media they were concerned by reports that the
22 IRAN Country Report August 2021 www.intellinews.com