Iran’s foreign trade (excluding crude oil export) stood at 125.86 million tons worth $88 billion from the beginning of the current Iranian year on March 21, 2022, to Dec. 21, to register a 17% rise in value compared with the similar period of last year, the latest data of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration showed.
A total of 97.84 million tons of goods, excluding crude oil, worth $43.08 billion were exported during the period, registering a 2% and 19% year-on-year rise in weight and value respectively.
The exports mainly included natural gas with $6.78 billion, liquefied propane with $3.11 billion, methanol with $1.87 billion, butane with $1.82 billion and polyethylene with $1.36 billion.
The above-mentioned products accounted for 15.75%, 7.22%, 3.4%, 2.4% and 1.3% of exports respectively.
Notably, 46.6% of the exports during the period were petrochemical products and 16% were gas condensates.
Iran’s top five export destinations were China with $11.85 billion worth of imports from Iran, Iraq with $8.63 billion, Turkey with $6.42 billion, the UAE with $4.6 billion and India with $1.47 billion.
Around 27.5% of Iran’s exports during the period went to China, 20.3% to Iraq, 14.9% to Turkey, 10.6% to the UAE, and 3.4% to India.
Meanwhile, 28.02 million of goods worth $44.33 billion were imported into Iran during the same period, registering a 10% and 14.7% rise in tonnage and value respectively compared with the corresponding period of last year.
Field corn with $2.61 billion, rice with $1.72 billion, soybean with $1.52 billion, wheat with $1.45 billion, mobile phones with $1.26 billion and sunflower oil with $945 million were the main imports. The six imported products accounted for 5.8%, 3.8%, 3.4%, 3.2%, 2.8% and 2.1% of total imports to Iran during the period respectively.
The UAE with $13.65 billion, China with $11.52 billion, Turkey with $4.63 billion, India with $2.24 billion and Germany with $1.39 billion were the main exporters.
About 30.7% of Iran’s imports during the period came from the UAE, 25.9% from China, 10.4% from Turkey, 5.7% from India and 3.1% from Germany.
Fiscal 2021-22 Foreign Trade in Review
Iran’s foreign trade, excluding crude oil exports, stood at 162 million tons worth $100 billion in the last Iranian year (March 2021-22), registering a 38% rise in value compared with the year before, Alireza Moqaddesi, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, said.
“Exports stood at 122 million tons worth $48 billion, registering a 41% increase in value compared with the previous year. Iran’s top five export destinations were China, Iraq, Turkey, the UAE and Afghanistan,” he added.
Moqaddesi noted that imports hit 40 million tons worth $52 billion during the same period, registering a 21% and 36% growth in weight and value respectively.
The UAE, China, Turkey, Germany and Russia were the main exporters.
“The imports mainly included essential goods, raw materials and production line machinery,” he added.
Also known as necessity or basic goods, essential goods are products consumers will buy, regardless of changes in income levels.
Iran’s import of essential goods in the fiscal 2021-22 included corn, unrefined vegetable oil, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, wheat, oilseeds, soymeal, barley, rice, sugar, heavy vehicle tires, fertilizer, pesticide and insecticide, veterinarian medicine, red meat, chicken, eggs, pulses and tea.
Restricted Trade Portfolio
Trade reports that are being published in Iran only survey non-oil exports. The country’s oil statistics are not available, therefore speaking of trade surplus and deficit seems unprofessional.
Given the level of Iran’s oil sales, it is unlikely that the country’s trade balance will be negative. News by international oil and shipping organizations (as well as sources inside Iran) indicates that Iran sells more than 800,000 barrels of oil per day. With these assumptions and putting the estimated price of oil at an average of $80 annually, Iran generated $22-23 billion in oil income. If we add this number to revenues from non-oil exports, the country’s trade balance will be positive. These were stated by Majid Reza Hariri, chairman of Iran-China Chamber of Commerce, in an article for the Persian daily Ta’adol. A translation of the text follows:
Lack of transparent statistics on oil exports results in statistical confusion. We should not forget that over 70-80% of our “non-oil” exports are in fact petroleum products, natural gas, gas condensates and petrochemicals. In other words, even our “non-oil” exports are petroleum products. At present, Iran does not have any non-oil products among six categories of its export basket. In the 10 categories of exports, only steel is non-petroleum, the rest of Iran’s commercial goods are all produced from oil. I believe that even steel is a petroleum commodity; if energy subsidies are removed and Iran’s steel is produced at global energy prices, it will lose its export advantage.
The mere fact that trade balance is positive or negative is neither a value nor an anti-value. The important issue is whether Iran’s exports have increased or decreased compared with previous years. Statistics by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration show no growth in Iran’s exports; exports account for one third of imports, i.e., if we export $1,000, we can import $250 worth of goods. Iran’s non-oil exports have decreased by more than 16% in terms of weight compared with the same period last year. For the same reason imports have dropped by five percent, but their value has increased by 17% compared with previous years. Therefore, one should not rely on these statistics and make policies accordingly.
Not everything is that bleak; a series of measures have been taken by the government of President Ebrahim Raisi which are positive. The government has focused on neighboring markets whose trade is not high if you look at them individually, but together they amount to a significant level. Central Asian and Eurasian countries and Pakistan are among important markets. There are Latin American and African countries as well. These positive decisions have been taken but will the results of these programs manifest in the statistics? The answer is no. It is still too early for making such evaluations. We need to know that the markets on which the government has focused for less than a year are not going to have an impact on Iran’s commercial statistics quickly. But the direction taken is good and soon the effects will be visible; these new destinations will be added to Iran’s traditional export markets. By this course of action, Iran will give more diversity to its business portfolio.
Reports show 75% of Iran’s foreign trade is with five countries, namely, China, the UAE, Iraq, Turkey and Afghanistan. Such a limited number of trading partners is risky for a country whose export destinations are not diversified. Each of these countries can become dangerous when they acquire a greater share of Iran’s trade and gain monopoly. We are bound to get into trouble for whatever reason, including political issues, with each of these countries, which accounts for more than 15% of our trade. In my opinion, the diversity of markets is important for both import and export. Now that Iran is under sanctions and cannot forge ties with Europe and the US, we need to think and work more with other countries, including those in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America.
