Iran’s exports to Latin American states grew 56% during the first eight months of the current fiscal year (started March 20), even though imports fell by 45%.
As per the latest data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, $169 million worth of non-oil goods were shipped from Iran to the 20 Latin American states.
Venezuela was the main destination for Iranian non-oil products during the period under review. The country imported $111.9 million worth of goods from Iran to register a considerable growth compared with the previous year’s $10 million.
Brazil was the second largest destination for Iranian goods. Iran’s exports to Brazil amounted to $55 million during the eight-month period, posting a 47% decline compared with the same period of last year.
Mexico and Argentina came next, importing $883,400 and $550,600 worth of non-oil Iranian products.
Exports to Chile amounted to $365,000, six times higher than the corresponding period of the previous year.
Latin America is a group of 20 countries and 13 dependencies in the Western Hemisphere that stretch from the northern border of Mexico to the southern tip of South America, including the Caribbean. It is spread over 19,197,000 square kilometers, almost 13% of the Earth's land surface area.
Trade With LatAm States
Trade between Iran and LatAm states totaled $435.6 million during the eight months to Nov. 20, indicating a 26.88% decrease year-on-year.
As per the statistics, Brazil is Iran’s leading LatAm trading partner, accounting for $275.5 million of the total trade transactions during the period under review.
Venezuela was the second largest partner of Iran in Latin America with $113 million worth of transactions, followed by Ecuador, Brazil, Peru and Argentina, IRICA’s data show.
Iran’s imports from the above-mentioned countries decreased by 45% to $266.2 million.
Brazil was the leading exporter of non-oil goods to Iran among LatAm states. More than $220 million worth of non-oil goods were imported from Brazil into Iran during the period under review.
Ecuador shipped $29.2 million worth of goods to Iran to become the second top exporter of non-oil goods to Iran.
Peru came next with $4 million, followed by Argentina ($2.87 million down 97% YOY), Paraguay ($2.33 million, up 133% YOY) and Mexico ($2.11 million, up 51% YOY).
Iran traded 1.1 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $816.76 million with Latin American countries in the last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2019) to register a 22.28% and 29.88% decline in tonnage and value respectively compared to the year before.
While the leading nations of the western hemisphere have increasingly called attention to Iran’s sphere of influence in the Middle East, over the past two decades, Iran has consistently strengthened diplomatic and economic links with countries of the region, developing trade and investment ties, reads an article published by Abu Dhabi-based TRENDS Research and Advisory Center.
Yet the Latin America region only accounts for a small share of Iran’s overall trade with world countries.
Non-Oil Foreign Trade
Iran’s total non-oil foreign trade hit 97.7 million tons worth $44.6 billion in the eight months leading to Nov. 20.
According to Mehdi Mirashrafi, the head of Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, exports accounted for 75 million tons worth $21.5 billion and imports constituted 21.8 million tons worth $23.1 billion.
“When compared with the corresponding period of last year (March 21-Nov. 21, 2019), exports registered a 14% and 19% decline in weight and value respectively. Imports saw a respective 1% and 18% decline in weight and value year-on-year,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
“Main export destinations over the period included Iraq and China with $5.3 billion each, the UAE with $2.7 billion, Turkey with $1.6 billion and Afghanistan with $1.5 billion.”
Noting that pistachio was Iran’s fourth biggest export during the period, the IRICA chief said, “Each kilogram of pistachio was exported at $6, compared with the average 30 cent per kilogram of Iran’s exports.”
“Top exporters to Iran were China with $6 billion, the UAE with $5.4 billion, Turkey with $2.6 billion, India with $1.4 billion and Germany with $1.1 billion,” he said.
Mirashrafi said a total of 4.47 million tons of cargo were transited across the country over the period, indicating a 15% decline YOY.
Notably, Iraq stood above China by a narrow margin in terms of exports from Iran. The neighboring country began to overtake China as Iran’s biggest destination since two months ago.
