Exports hit $35.61 billion, indicating a decline of 2% while imports amounted $42.8 billion, up 22% in value year-on-year. Petrochemical exports stood at $10.67 billion, accounting for nearly 30% of Iran’s total exports
Iran’s non-oil trade with other countries in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year (March 21, 2017-Jan. 20) stood at $78.41 billion, indicating a rise of 9.5% compared with last year’s corresponding period.
Exports
Iranian exporters managed to sell petrochemical products worth $10.67 billion during the 10 months. Last year’s figures for the similar period show the country exported petrochemicals worth $11.72 billion. Therefore, petrochemical exports have seen a 9% decline in value in the 10 months compared with the same period of last year.
Other major exported commodities during the period were gas condensates ($5.67 billion or 16% of total exports), liquefied propane ($1.21 billion or more than 3% of overall exports), light crude oil, excluding gasoline ($997 million or around 3% of total exports), methanol ($984 million or nearly 3% of total exports) and granulated hematite iron ore ($845 million or more than 2% of total exports).
China was the main customer of Iranian products during the period, as Iran exported commodities worth $7.42 billion to the Asian country, 11% more compared with the corresponding period of last year. Exports to China account for 21% of Iran’s total exports. Other major export destinations included the UAE with imports from Iran worth $5.13 billion (accounting for over 14% of Iran’s total exports), Iraq with goods worth $5.04 billion (14% of Iran’s total exports) and South Korea with $3.41 billion (accounting for 9.5% of Iran’s total exports). India was the fifth biggest importer of Iranian goods during the 10-month period. The South Asian country bought Iranian products worth $2.27 billion to constitute more than 6% of Iran’s total exports.
Exports to China rose by 11% during the period under review. Iran’s exports to the UAE saw a decline of 19%, exports to Iraq registered a decline of around 1%. South Korea’s imports from Iran increased 33%, exports to India decreased by 3% in terms of value YOY.
Imports
Imports mainly included auto parts ($1.4 billion or more than 3% of total imports), field corn ($1.25 billion or around 3% of total imports), rice ($1.02 billion or more than 2% of total imports), soybean ($775 million or close to 2% of total imports), vehicles of engine displacement between 1500 cc and 2000 cc, except for ambulance and hybrid cars ($683 million or more than 1.5% of total imports).
Major exporters to Iran included China ($10.22 billion, +21%), the UAE ($7.78 billion; +42%), South Korea ($2.97 billion, +6%), Turkey ($2.6 billion, +18%) and Germany ($2.34 billion, +19%).
The average price of each ton of exported goods stood at $359, posting a 5.5% rise over last year’s corresponding period and the average price of each ton of imported commodities hovered around $1,404, up 10% YOY.