BRICS’ five member states, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, accounted for a third of Iran’s total foreign trade in the fiscal 2021-22, data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration show.
According to IRICA, Iran’s trade (excluding crude oil exports) with BRICS reached 47.61 million tons worth $33.71 billion in the last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2022), registering a 38.38% and 4.29% growth in weight and value respectively compared to the previous year.
In terms of value, China topped the list of Iran’s trade partners among BRICS group of countries with 32.71 million tons worth $27.07 billion, registering a 7.28% and 43.09% growth in terms of weight and value, respectively.
It was followed by India with 8.06 million tons (up 102.33%) worth $3.4 billion (up 116.09%), Russia with 4.92 million tons (down 49.83%) worth $2.24 billion (down 34.43%), Brazil with 1.36 million tons (up 9.76%) worth $737.77 million (up 83.49%) and South Africa with 554,571 tons (up 127.56%) worth $260.71 million (up 461.97%).
Iran exported a total of $37.81 million tons worth $17.16 billion to BRICS in the fiscal 2021-22, registering a 4.79% and 51.01% increase in terms of weight and value respectively.
China was the main export destination with 28.96 million tons (up 7.62%) worth $14.32 billion (up 57.89%). It was followed by India with 6.72 million tons (down 11.54%) worth $1.82 billion (up 41.89%), Russia with 1.14 million tons (up 8.53%) worth $578.52 million (up 14.9%), South Africa with 553,170 tons (up 335.01%) worth $254.27 million (up 569.51%) and Brazil with 406,628 tons (up 9.85%) worth $182.92 million (up 164.53%).
Iran’s imports from BRICS hit 9.8 million tons worth $16.55 billion, registering a 2.38% and 23.55% growth in weight and value respectively.
China also topped the list of exporters to Iran with 3.73 million tons (up 4.66%) worth $12.74 billion (up 129.44%).
Russia with 3.78 million tons (up 28.81%) worth $1.66 billion (up 55.55%), India with 1.34 million tons (down 39.3%) worth $1.58 billion (down 26.01%), Brazil with 955,729 tons (up 9.72%) worth $554.85 million (up 66.27%) and South Africa with 1,400 tons (down 44.9%) worth $6.44 million (down 23.41%) came next.
Iran’s total foreign trade, excluding crude oil exports, stood at 162 million tons worth $100 billion in the fiscal 2021-22, registering a 38% rise in value compared with the year before, according to the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
The above data show BRICS accounted for a third of Iran’s foreign trade in the fiscal 2021-22.
“Exports stood at 122 million tons worth $48 billion, registering a 41% increase in value compared with the previous year,” Alireza Moqaddesi was quoted as saying by IRNA.
This means BRICS accounted for over 78% of Iran’s total exports.
Imports hit 40 million tons worth $52 billion during the same period, registering a 21% and 36% growth in weight and value respectively.
Iran’s imports from BRICS accounted for around a third of its total imports.
Iran Applies to Join BRICS
Iran, which holds the world's second largest gas reserves, has applied to join the BRICS group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that Beijing and Moscow cast as a powerful emerging market alternative to the West.
The term BRIC was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill in 2001 to describe the startling rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The BRIC powers had their first summit in 2009 in Russia. South Africa joined in 2010, Reuters reported.
Iranian membership in BRICS "would result in added values for both sides", Tehran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said. Russia said Argentina has also applied to join. It cast such applications as evidence that the West, led by the United States, was failing to isolate Moscow over what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
"While the White House was thinking about what else to turn off in the world, ban or spoil, Argentina and Iran applied to join the BRICS," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, currently in Europe, recently reiterated his desire for his country to join BRICS.
An Argentine government source said there was no "formal process" to do so as yet but that was the country's intention.
"Argentine authorities have already publicly expressed their willingness to join. It is a process that has only just begun," the source said, asking not to be named.
China has by far the largest economy in the BRICS grouping, accounting for more than 70% of the group's collective $27.5 trillion economic might. India accounts for about 13%, with Russia and Brazil representing about 7%, according to IMF data.
BRICS account for more than 40% of the world's population and about 26% of the global economy.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew the US-backed monarchy, Iran has been ostracized by the West and its economy crippled by a myriad of sanctions. It holds around a quarter of the Middle East's oil reserves.
Chinese President Xi Jinping joined Russian President Vladimir Putin and other BRICS leaders for a virtual summit last week.
Xi criticized "the abuse" of international sanctions, while Putin scolded the West for fomenting global crisis, with both leaders calling for greater BRICS cooperation.
Putin has said relations with China are the best they have ever been and touts a strategic partnership with Beijing aimed at countering US influence.
US President Joe Biden has said the West is locked in a battle with autocratic governments such as China and Russia.
The United States and European powers cite Putin's decision to invade Ukraine as the reason relations with the West have sunk to the lowest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis - including the severest sanctions in modern history.
But Putin says the West wants to destroy Russia, that the economic sanctions are akin to a declaration of economic war and that Russia will build ties with other powers such as China, India and Middle East powers.
Putin, who casts the Ukraine war as a "special military operation", accuses the United States of having humiliated Russia in the aftermath of the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union and threatening Moscow by enlarging the NATO military alliance.
Russia sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 to degrade its southern neighbor's military capabilities, root out people it called dangerous nationalists and defend the Russian-speakers of two eastern Ukrainian regions.
Ukraine says Russia has launched an imperial-style land grab and will never surrender its territory to Moscow.
