Iran recorded a non-oil trade surplus of $295 million in the first four months of the current fiscal year (started March 21).
According to a report by the Persian daily Donya-e-Eqtesad based on the data provided by the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade, the country’s overall non-oil foreign trade (including gas condensates) during the period under review stood at $28.91 billion.
Iran’s exports stood at 49.79 million tons worth $14.6 billion during the four months to July 22 to register a 31.26% growth in weight but a 7.51% decrease year-on-year.
Imports reached 11.82 million tons worth $14.31 billion, indicating a rise of 0.85% in weight but a decline of 6.61% in value compared with the similar period of last year.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, the official body in charge of releasing data on Iran's foreign trade, has stopped publishing its monthly reports for the past few months.
"IRICA ceases to release data as soon as there's decline in trade," Secretary-General of Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce Hamid Hosseini has recently been quoted as saying.
The decline in trade comes as last year the United States unilaterally walked out of the nuclear deal Iran had signed with world powers, including with the US, in 2015 and reimposed a series of sanctions described as "toughest ever" against the Islamic Republic with the aim of choking off Iran's trade, particularly of oil, with the world by obstructing banking transactions with the Islamic Republic and scaring off its trading partners.
The deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, saw the removal of international sanctions against Iran. In exchange, the country agreed to limit the scope of its nuclear program.
The return of sanctions wreaked havoc on the Iranian economy after an initial boost as a result of JCPOA and its implementation in 2016. As a result, the Iranian government adopted ad-hoc trade policies to cushion the effect of sanctions.
One such measure was to ban the import of a wide range of goods as of last year with the primary aim of economizing on foreign currency reserves. The measure covered commodities that are produced inside the country.
IRICA's Last Year Statistics
IRICA's trade data for the last fiscal year (March 2018-19) show Iran recorded a non-oil trade surplus of $1.69 billion.
The country’s overall non-oil foreign trade during the period stood at $86.92 billion. When compared with statistics provided by the Islamic Republic of Iran, last year's foreign trade indicates a 14.1% decrease compared with the year before.
Overall exports hit 117.22 million tons worth $44.31 billion during the fiscal 2019-20 to register a 12% decrease in weight and a 6% decline in value year-on-year.
Imports amounted to 32.04 million tons worth $42.61 billion, down 17.5% in weight. Imports saw a decline of 22% in value YOY.
“Iran’s top export destinations last year were China with $9.3 billion, Iraq $8.9 billion, the UAE $5.9 billion, Afghanistan $2.9 billion and South Korea $2.5 billion,” IRICA chief, Mehdi Mirashrafi, has been quoted as saying.
Last year, exports to China dropped by 8% in weight, but increased more than 2% in value YOY.
Iraq’s imports from Iran grew by more than 49% in weight and 37% in value.
Exports to the UAE declined by 24.5% YOY in tonnage and 12% in value.
Afghanistan’s imports from Iran decreased by 4% in weight, but increased more than 5% in value YOY.
Exports to South Korea plummeted by more than 51% in weight and 41% in value compared with the year before.
The average price of each ton of exported commodities hovered around $378, up 7% compared with the previous year’s same period.
By “non-oil”, IRICA refers to all commodities, except for crude oil. Therefore, oil-driven products and by-products, as well as petrochemical products, are still categorized as non-oil.
IRICA categorizes non-oil exports into three groups of “petrochemicals”, “gas condensates” and “others”.
A total of 34.17 million tons of petrochemicals worth $14.15 billion were exported last year, registering a decrease of more than 13% in weight and more than 2% in value compared with the previous year. In fact, petrochemicals accounted for 32% of Iran’s overall non-oil exports in value and more than 29% in weight last tear.
Exports of the main commodity of the “gas condensates” group, i.e. gas condensates, stood at 9.48 million tons worth $4.93 billion last year, followed by liquefied natural gas worth $1.92 billion, liquefied propane worth $1.71 billion, light oils and products, except for gasoline worth $1.45 billion and methanol worth $1.35 billion. The “gas condensates” group made up more than 8% in weight and 11% in value of country’s total non-oil exports last year.
Exports of non-petroleum based products, including carpets, agricultural and industrial products, that are classified within “others” group fell in the neighborhood of 73.57 million tons worth $25.22 billion in the 12-month period, indicating a decline of around 4% in weight and 1% in value YOY. “Other items” accounted for 57% of Iran’s total exports in value and 63% in weight.
Last year, China, the UAE, Turkey, India and Germany were major exporters to Iran.
The 12-month imports from China dropped more than 28.5% in weight and 22% in value year-on-year.
Imports from the UAE decreased 45% in weight and 35% in value.
Turkey’s exports to Iran fell 25% in tonnage and 19% in value.
Last year, imports from India grew close to 15% in value and 12% in weight compared with the year before.
Germany’s exports to Iran fell 35.5% in weight and more than 20% in value.
The average price of each ton of imported commodities hovered around $1,330, down 5% compared with last year’s same period.
“Last year’s decline in imports is mostly thanks to the restrictions imposed on imports of consumer goods,” IRICA’s top official said, adding that intermediate and capital goods accounted for 85% of imports last year.
Iran’s imports over the 12-month period mainly included field corn ($2.09 billion accounting for 5% of total imports), rice worth $1.6 billion (4% of total imports), auto parts, except tires, worth $1.38 billion (3% of total imports), soybeans worth $1.16 billion (3% of imports) and oilcake worth more than $651 million or more than 1.5% of imports.
