Iran’s commercial exchanges with its leading trade partner, China, reached $13.13 billion from January 2021 till the end of November, registering a 3% decline compared with the corresponding period of 2020.
Latest data released by China’s General Administration of Customs show Iran’s exports to China totaled $5.74 billion during the period, indicating a 0.6% increase year-on-year.
In return, China exported $7.39 billion worth of commodities to Iran, indicating an 5.7% YOY decrease.
Bilateral trade hit $1.49 billion in November 2021.
Iran’s exports to China stood at $492.91 million during the month while imports from China amounted to $997.9 million in November 2021.
According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, Iran-China non-oil trade stood at 30.12 million tons worth $18.71 billion in the fiscal 2020-21.
China accounted for 26% of Iran's total non-oil exports, as 26.58 million tons of non-oil goods worth $8.95 billion were shipped from Iran to China during the period.
Pistachio, nuts, minerals, construction materials, methanol, carpet, iron ore, glassware and fruits were the main types of goods exported from Iran to China in the last fiscal year.
Imports from China totaled 3.54 million tons worth $9.76 billion during the year to March 21, 2021, to account for 10.6% of the total volume of Iran's imports and 25.3% of the total value of imports during the period.
Industrial machinery and raw materials, medical equipment, paper, wood, textile, auto parts and sports equipment were Iran's main imports from the South Asian state in the fiscal 2020-21.
Iran’s non-oil trade with the East Asian country declined by over 10% last year, as bilateral trade totaled $20.82 billion in the year ending March 20, 2020.
25-Year Agreement and SCO Accession
Former Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, signed a 25-year cooperation agreement in Tehran on March 27, 2021.
The cooperation document had for the first time been discussed in 2015, when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Iran.
The agreement pledges Chinese investments of $400–600 billion.
In a summit held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in September, the Chinese president announced the commencement of procedures to grant Iran full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
According to the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Jamestown Foundation, although SCO is mainly security and politically focused, membership in the organization is also supposed to have an economic dimension.
Mohammad Lahouti, the head of Iran Export Confederation, said Iran’s accession to SCO is a watershed event for diplomacy, which can open up new frontiers for the country’s economy.
“Iran has unparalleled capacities through which cooperation with SCO members can be facilitated. The country is located on corridors linking north to south and west to east; Iran remains the most important corridor to cross West Asian region, although many countries tried to replace it over these years,” he said.
“According to statistics, the country has one of the largest global oil and gas reserves needed by China and India, two key members of SCO.”
Mohsen Jalalpour, former president of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, is skeptical.
“Is accession to the SCO a really historic event? I personally believe it is; such developments are very important for Iran’s economy; they shouldn’t be regarded in passing. Yet, what is central is whether the country will be able to tap into such opportunities. Therefore, the event per se is significant but we probably won’t achieve the favorable outcome of it all,” he wrote for the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad.
“Where does my pessimism come from? The fact of the matter is that in the past few years, we did not forge any economic ties with any, I repeat again, any country. Our relations, even with our neighbors were based on security and political issues. I urge you to think twice if you believe I’m wrong. In relation with what country, did economic issues come first?”
Iran will embark on the path of becoming a full-fledged member of SCO at the next summit in September 2022, a Russian envoy to the eight-nation bloc said recently.
The Eurasian political organization currently comprises China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with Iran as observer state.
"We expect a memorandum to be signed in Samarkand [Uzbekistan] in September 2022. This means Iran will begin the concrete process of accession," Bakhtiyer Khakimov also told reporters on the sidelines of an SCO national coordinators' meeting in Tashkent.
Uzbekistan, which holds the rotating SCO presidency, has shared a draft memorandum listing conditions for Iran's accession with other members. Khakimov said every aspiring member state has a tailored list of criteria to meet, Sputnik International reported.
Trade With SCO Tops $21b in 8 Months
Iran’s trade with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states stood at 32.68 million tons worth $21.34 billion during the current fiscal year’s first eight months (March 21-Nov. 21), latest data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration show.
China with 21.57 million tons worth $16.29 billion, India with 6.63 million tons worth $2.18 billion and Russia with 2.96 million tons worth $1.37 billion were Iran’s top trade partners in the bloc.
Exports to the eight SCO member states hit 26.97 million tons worth $11.87 billion.
With 19.33 million tons of imports worth $9.08 billion, China led the pack and was followed by India with 26.97 million tons worth $1.18 and Pakistan with 1.87 million tons worth $764.39 million.
Imports reached 5.71 million tons worth $9.48 billion.
China also topped the list of exporters to Iran among SCO members with 2.24 million tons worth $7.22 billion. It was followed by Russia with 2.26 million tons worth $1 billion and India with 844,481 tons worth $936.61 million.
Iran’s trade with SCO hit 47.93 million tons worth $25.63 billion in the fiscal 2020-21 (ended March 20, 2021).
Exports to SCO members stood at 38.88 million tons worth $12.26 billion during the period.
The top three export destinations were China with 26.96 million tons worth $8.08 billion, India with 7.6 million tons worth $1.28 billion and Pakistan with 2.55 million tons worth $1 billion during the period under review.
Imports from SCO member states hit 9.05 million tons worth $13.37 billion in the last fiscal year.
The imports mainly came from China with 3.56 million tons worth $9.84 billion, India with 2.21 million tons worth $2.14 billion and 2.93 million worth $1.07 billion during the period.
China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan are SCO member states.
Iran traded 110.3 million tons of goods (excluding crude oil) worth $63.1 billion during the current fiscal year’s first eight months (March 21-Nov. 21), registering a 43.5% and 40% year-on-year growth in weight and value respectively, according to IRICA.
This means SCO accounted for around one-third of Iran’s trade with other countries.
