Although imports from India have experienced ups and downs over the past four years, exports to the country have remained more or less the same.
With an average $2.4 billion, India comes 4th in the list of Iran’s biggest export destinations. On the other hand, on average, more than $3 billion worth of goods are imported from the country every year.
Imported goods include food products such as rice, tea, meat, sugar, barley, bananas, turmeric and sunflower oil; medical products like supplementary drugs, antibiotics, vaccines; construction and industrial commodities and minerals such as iron ore, and coal.
Meanwhile, food products such as pistachios, dates, blanched almonds, black tea, saffron and kiwis; construction materials like bitumen, marble, plaster and floorings; minerals and industrial commodities such as ammonia, refined lead, industrial oil, refined copper, gypsum, grease, iron ingot, melamine along with methanol, urea, acetic acid, glass containers and lamb skin are the main exports to India.
Lately, both countries have shown enthusiasm to increase bilateral trade. Referring to Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) as a vital factor in boosting bilateral trade, head of Iran-India joint chamber of commerce, Ebrahim Jamili, says Indians are eager to invest in Iran’s steel and petrochemical sectors as well as in Chabahar Port in the southern Boushehr Province in a bid to facilitate transit of commodities between the countries.
Due to the presence of western sanctions – imposed over Tehran’s nuclear energy program – Iran has had no access to part of its revenues from exports to India in recent years. “About $8.8 billion of our revenues are frozen in India,” IRNA quoted Iranian vice president, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, as saying.
