The total value of trade between Iran and African countries reached $402 million during the first 10 months of the current Iranian year (started March 21, 2020).
As per the data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, Iran exported $353.54 million worth of goods to the African continent during the period while imports amounted to $48.5 million.
Iran’s main export destinations in Africa were Ghana with $117.52 million, Algeria with $64.15 million and Kenya with $29.7 million.
Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Guinea, Libya, Morocco, Mali, Macao, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan, Senegal, Somalia, Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Ethiopia, Tunisia and Rwanda were other customers of Iranian goods.
Tanzania topped the list of African countries in terms of exports to Iran during the 10 months under review, as a total of $38.2 million worth of goods were imported from Tanzania to Iran.
Ghana came next with $3.57 million, followed by Ethiopia ($3.25 million) and South Africa ($2.51 million).
In fact, Ghana was Iran's largest African trade partner during the 10-month period, with total bilateral trade standing at $124.7 million.
Algeria ranked second with 64.4 million followed by Kenya with $34.6 and South Africa $26.3 million in total trade.
Iron and non-alloy steel topped the list of Iran’s exports to Africa with about $100 million. Urea was next with $95.26 million, followed by semi-finished steel products worth $92.07 million, rebar worth $11.92 million and cement worth $11.6 million.
Manganese ores and concentrates were the leading imported item from African countries with $9.62 million, followed by tobacco worth $6.15 million, seafood (skipjack and stripe-bellied bonito) worth $4.9 million and tea worth $3.95 million.
With 54 countries, Africa is the second largest continent with a population of around 1.3 billion. It has a higher economic growth compared to the world average.
Although it accounts for less than 3% of the annual global trade, the continent offers Iran ample ground for bilateral trade.
Plan to Promote Exports
The Trade Promotion Organization of Iran plans to allocate €200 million to promote exports to African countries.
Farzad Piltan, the head of TPO's Arab and African Trade Department, said the funding will be part of a $2 billion support package approved by the National Development Fund of Iran (the country's sovereign wealth fund) to promote Iranian exports.
The package is aimed at removing hurdles to expanding foreign trade with African nations, he added.
Despite high trade potential with Africa, export to the Black Continent has been impeded by a myriad of factors, namely "lack of planning, unfamiliarity with needs of the huge African market and the unwillingness of private sector organizations to operate in Africa", he said.
Outlining a plan to push trade with Africa, Piltan pointed to concerted efforts to remove banking and transportation hurdles and holding trade exhibitions.
Earlier, Hamid Zadboum, the TPO head, had said the NDFI support would be given to exporters via designated banks over two years.
“Money has been deposited with four banks, namely the Export Development Bank of Iran, Cooperative Development Bank, Bank Keshavarzi and the Venezuela Bi-National Bank,” he said.
Small Share of Total Trade
Iran’s overall foreign trade, excluding oil exports, stood at 122.8 million tons worth $58.7 billion in the 10-month period leading to Jan. 19, suggesting that trade with Africa constitutes only around 0.6% of the Islamic Republic’s total exchanges with the world.
According to Mehdi Mirashrafi, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, exports accounted for 94.54 million tons worth $28.06 billion and imports 28.24 million tons worth $30.63 billion of the total sum.
Compared with the corresponding period of last year, exports registered a 17.7% and 20% decline in weight and value respectively.
Imports saw a 2% and 15.5% decline in weight and value respectively year-on-year, he was quoted as saying by ISNA.
Main export destinations over the period included China with 22.8 million tons of non-oil goods worth $7.2 billion, Iraq with 22.3 million tons worth $6.3 billion, the UAE with 12.8 million tons worth $3.7 billion, Turkey with 5.7 million tons worth $2 billion and Afghanistan with 5.8 million tons worth $1.9 billion.
“These five countries imported an aggregate of 69.5 million tons of non-oil goods worth $21.3 billion from Iran, which account for 73.5% of the weight and 76% of the value of Iran’s overall exports over the period under review,” the IRICA chief said.
Major exporters to Iran were again China with 2.9 million tons worth $7.9 billion, the UAE with 4.1 million tons worth $7.4 billion, Turkey with 4 million tons worth $3.4 billion, India with 1.9 million tons worth $1.8 billion and Germany with 966,000 tons of goods worth $1.4 billion.
Mirashrafi noted that these five countries exported an aggregate of 13.9 million tons of goods worth $21.9 billion to Iran, which account for 49% of the weight and 71.6% of the value of Iran’s total imports over the period.
