Iran’s non-oil exports to neighbors surge amid sanctions

Iran's non-oil exports to neighbors in the five months since the start of the Persian year on March 20 rose 27 percent year-on-year to $10.7 billion, the country’s customs figures show.

More than 33.3 million tonnes of non-oil goods worth $20.6 billion were exchanged between Iran and its 15 neighbors in the period, the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Spokesman Ruhollah Latifi said on Wednesday. Iran’s overall non-oil trade in the period stood at $42.5 billion.

Iraq took in 8.6 million tonnes of non-oil Iranian goods worth more than $2.9 billion, followed by the UAE with $2.7 billion and Turkey with $2.3 billion in imports from their resource-rich neighbor.

Next came Afghanistan with $641 million, Pakistan with $475 million, Oman with $452 million and Azerbaijan with $296 million in imported goods from Iran, the figures cited by IRNA news agency showed.

Iraq’s main purchases from its neighbor are agricultural products, engineering services, construction materials, and energy, such as electricity and natural gas. Baghdad has received waivers from Washington allowing it to buy Iranian electricity and natural gas.

Iraq needs more than 23,000 megawatts of electricity to meet its domestic demand but years of war following the 2003 US invasion have left its power infrastructure in tatters and a deficit of some 7,000 megawatts.

In the past, officials in Baghdad have said there is no easy substitute to imports from Iran because it would take years to adequately build up Iraq’s energy infrastructure.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has said he wants “excellent relations” with the Islamic Republic.

The two countries have called to raise their annual bilateral trade to $20 billion from around $10 billion despite the impact of the US sanctions.    

Latifi put Iran’s imports from its neighbors in the first five months of the Persian year at $21.6 billion, up 21% from the same period a year before.

The UAE was the biggest exporter at more than $6 billion followed by Turkey at $2.1 billion and Russia with $715 million.

Iran foresees a leap in its foreign trade this year without worrying about the effects of the US sanctions which have been a drag on the country's economy for years.

SS