Iran and the European Union’s 27 member states traded €760.99 million worth of goods during the first two months of 2023, registering a 9.2% fall compared with the same period of the year before.
Data released by Eurostat show Germany was the top trading partner of Iran in the EU region during the period, as the two countries exchanged €242.89 million worth of goods, 22.87% less year-on-year.
Italy came next with €109.49 million worth of trade with Iran to register a 12.93% rise. The Netherlands with €101.25 million (up 60.37%) and Belgium with €54.28 million (up 15.76%) were Iran's other major European trade partners.
Malta registered the highest growth of 1,376.45% in trade with Iran during the period under review and was followed by the Netherlands with 60.37%.
Bilateral trade declined by 21.31% in February compared with the similar month of 2022 to hit €359.78 million.
Germany with €116.81 million, Italy with €58.57 million, the Netherlands with €46.62 million, Spain with €23.85 million and Romania with €20.17 million were Iran’s top trading partners in February.
A directorate of the European Commission located in Luxembourg, Eurostat’s main responsibilities are to provide statistical information to EU institutions and promote the harmonization of statistical methods across its member states and candidates for accession.
Organizations in different countries that cooperate with Eurostat are summarized under the concept of European Statistical System.
Iran exported €139.21 million worth of goods to the EU during the two-month period, indicating a 17.3% fall.
Germany with €45.83 million, Italy with €25.39 million, Belgium with €13.5 million, Spain with €13.44 million and Bulgaria with €8.23 million were Iran’s main export destinations.
Iran exported €61.23 million worth of goods to EU partners in February, down 30.98% year-on-year.
The main export destinations included Germany (€18.9 million), Italy (€13.36 million), Spain (€5.67 million), the Netherlands (€3.91 million) and Bulgaria (€3.79 million).
Iran’s imports from the EU member states in the two months ending February declined by 7.17% to €621.77 million. Germany accounted for the largest share of exports with €197.05 million, down 23.59% YOY, followed by the Netherlands (€93.85 million), Italy (€84.09 million) and Spain (€33.64 million).
Imports from the EU declined by 18.98% YOY to €298.54 million in February.
Bilateral Trade in Review
Iran and the EU traded €5.23 billion worth of goods in 2022, registering a 7.95% rise compared with the year before.
Germany was the top trading partner of Iran in the EU region during the period, as the two countries exchanged over €1.86 billion worth of goods, 8.56% more than in 2021.
Italy came next with €713.17 million worth of trade with Iran to register a 13.32% rise.
The Netherlands with €445.57 million (down 7.61%) and Spain with €378.46 million (up 12.67%) were Iran's other major European trade partners.
Croatia registered the highest growth of 48.84% in trade with Iran during the period under review and was followed by Bulgaria with 44.13%.
Iran exported €1.05 billion worth of goods to the EU in 2022, indicating a 14.55% rise.
Germany with €278.91 million, Italy with €161.37 million, Spain with €148.23 million, Romania with €86.84 million and Bulgaria with €85.38 million were Iran’s main export destinations.
Iran’s imports from the EU member states in 2022 grew by 6.4% to €4.18 billion. Germany accounted for the largest share of exports with €1.58 billion, up 9.88% YOY, followed by Italy (€551.79 million), the Netherlands (€389.53 million) and France (€330.3 million).
Bilateral trade stood at €4.86 billion in 2021, registering a 9.09% rise compared with the year before. Iran exported €922.04 million worth of commodities to EU last year, indicating a 29.32% rise. Its imports from the EU member states grew by 5.24% YOY to €3.94 billion.
The figure stood at €4.24 billion in 2020 to register a 13.35% decline compared with €4.89 billion in 2019. Iran exported €618.03 million worth of commodities to EU, indicating a 7.18% fall compared with €665.8 million in 2019. Its imports from EU dropped by 14.32% to reach €3.62 billion.
Two-way trade gained momentum after Tehran signed the nuclear deal with six world powers in 2015. The deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, saw years of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic lifted. In exchange, the country agreed to limit the scope of its nuclear program. JCPOA was implemented in 2016.
However, in 2018, Washington unilaterally quit JCPOA that it had signed with five other countries and Iran. The US then reimposed sanctions against Tehran, leading to a decline in Iran’s foreign trade, including with the EU.
As the government of US President Joe Biden worked to revive JCPOA, the deal appeared near revival in March. But indirect talks between Tehran and Washington have broken down over several non-nuclear issues.
INSTEX Dissolved
European countries said last month they have decided to dissolve a system that was conceived in 2019 to enable trade with Iran and protect companies doing business with it from US sanctions, but only ever processed one transaction.
The German and French foreign ministries said the 10 shareholders of INSTEX - Belgium, Germany, Finland, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK - concluded that there was no basis to keep it going after Iran persistently refused to work with the institution, AP reported.
The statement said the decision to wind up INSTEX was taken for purely business reasons and independently of other factors.
The complex barter-type system was conceived by Germany, France and the UK in January 2019 after then-president, Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions. The other parties to the deal were keen to keep it alive.
In March 2020, the German government said INSTEX had finally concluded a first transaction, facilitating the export of medical goods from Europe to Iran.
The statement said Iran had systematically prevented INSTEX from fulfilling its mandate for political reasons. Tehran only approved one deal and subsequently blocked further proposed transactions, it added.
