Two-Thirds of Iran’s Non-Oil Exports Lack Value Added

A close inspection of 24 industrial categories on the list of Iran’s non-oil exports (including gas condensate) during the seven months to Oct. 22 shows that five groups had the lion’s share of overall exports worth $16 billion.

“This means other groups had only an $8-billion share in non-oil exports,” Financial Tribune’s sister newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad reported.

The five groups are “materials and chemical products”, “coke, oil refinery products and nuclear fuels”, “foods and beverages”, “base metals” and “other non-metallic minerals”.

According to statistics released by the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade, Iran’s total non-oil exports during the period stood over $24 billion, down by around 4% compared with last year’s corresponding period.

According to the Persian economic daily, the five categories consist of commodities with little or no value added.

Experts say the tendency toward exporting products with little added value is rooted in cheap access to energy, abundance of mineral resources and overuse of oil revenues by the Iranian government.

Among the commodities in the five aforementioned categories, chemical products with over $6 billion had the largest share of exports followed by coke, oil refinery products and nuclear fuels with $3.46 billion, foods and beverages with $3.33 billion, base metals with $2.32 billion and other non-metallic minerals with $828 million.

The report also singled out non-oil commodities that saw the highest rise in terms of export over the seven-month period. Tobacco exports had a 202% jump year-on-year.

Radio, TV and communication devices registered close to 179% YOY growth. The rise in the export of furniture and related products, paper, printing and publishing products, and recorded media stood at 134%, 113% and 78% respectively YOY.