More than 40,000 megawatts (MW) of technical capacity for wind energy has been identified in the country, managing director of Renewable Energy Organization of Iran (SUNA) announ­c­ed.  Assessments carried out across Iran by the German Institute of Solar Research (DLR) in an area covering 2,000 square kilometers also brought to light a 60,000 MW capacity for solar thermal power plant installation.  "Some 15 regions in Iran are considered apt to produce thermal energy," Yousef Armoudeli was quoted by ISNA as saying at a conference on environment and energy, held in the city of Semnan.  "Iran's energy intensity rate (total primary energy consumption per each unit of GDP) is 3.9 times higher than the global average," the head of Elec­tri­cal and Electronics Engineering Association of Semnan Province, Mohammad Mousavizadeh said at the conference.  Eliminating sound pollution and the need for water, reducing energy expenses and low maintenance costs are among advantages of photovoltaic power plants. In recent years, an increasing number of environmentalists, pointing to the disadvantages of fossil fuels and their use in power generation, have been calling on the government to gradually shift to cleaner energy in a bid to help protect the environment.  The government hopes to pro­duce 5,000 megawatts of electricity from renewable sources within two years, and plans to target rural communities who have been largely cut off from government services.  Legislations and incentives to encourage domestic and foreign investment in renewable energy projects in the country have been recently discussed and ratified.  Iran’s diverse climate offers a great opportunity to exploit renewable energy from the sun, wind and water. Most provinces in Iran experience sunshine for over 300 days a year.

Studies conducted by the DLR Mediterranean indicate that Iran can be a part of the Mediterranean renewable power generation chain in 2050 to provide the electrical power demand of Europe. However, as a developing country and due to its large area, Iran has some limitations regarding the number of synoptic stations – instruments that make local observations of wea­ther at fixed times, the DLR report said.

In den ersten neun Monaten des iranischen Jahres 1393 importierte Iran nach Angaben des iranischen Zoll Waren im Wert von 38 Mrd. USD.  Der Anteil der Importe aus asiatischen Län­dern betrug 77%, während der Anteil der Lieferungen aus Europa bei 20% lag.  Wichtigste Lieferländer wa­ren die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate (24%), China (23%), Süd-Korea (8%), die Türkei (7%) und Indien (7%).   Deutschland lieferte 5% der Waren und belegte damit den sechsten Platz der iranischen Lieferländer, gefolgt von der Schweiz mit 4%. 

Im vergangenen iranischen Jahr bezog Iran Waren im Wert von 51 Mrd. USD.  75% der Wa­ren kamen im Vorjahr aus Asien und 22% aus Europa.  Vor 20 Jahren sah das noch ganz anders aus; im Jahr 1373 (1992/93) kamen 60% der Waren aus Europa, 30% aus Asien und 8% aus Amerika.

Bei den Abnehmerländern iranischer Nichtöl-produkte liegen die asiatischen Länder mit 93% der iranischen Lieferungen noch weiter vorn, während europäische Länder lediglich 5% der iranischen Nichtöl-Produkte abnehmen.  

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The value of bilateral trade between Iran and China from January to No­vem­ber 2014, has witnessed a 36 percent increase, compared to the same period last year, cus­toms data showed.  The bilateral trade exchanges between the Islamic Republic and China over the 11-month period reached $47.5 billion, showing a 36 percent rise, compared with the figure in 2013, according to the General Administration of Customs.  The data indicated that Iran-Chi­na bilateral trade from January to November 2013 stood at about $35 billion.  According to the report, the Chinese exports to Iran from January to November 2014, reached $22 billion, show­ing an 87 percent increase compared to the same period last year.  The Chinese imports from Iran over the first 11 months in 2014 increased by 10 percent, hitting $25.5 billion. Oil is the main item imported to China from Iran.  Earlier last month, the customs data showed that Chi­na's crude oil imports from Iran in November increased by more than half from October.  China’s November imports hit 2.13 million tons, or 517,560 barrels per day (bpd), up 53 percent from 338,635 bpd in October.  As Iran's largest oil client, China brought in 24.9 million tons, or 544,100 bpd, in the first 11 months of 2014, up 29 percent over the same period last year, the highest level since 2011.

The latest statistics of Iran Customs reveals that the rate of growth in non- oil exports exceeds the imports.  Based on the report of the Public Relations office of Iran Customs , the IT depart­ment of Iran Customs reported that during the past 9 months of current Iranian year, 35 billion and 145 million dollars of goods were exported and 38 billion and 462 million dollars of goods were imported in to the country.

Based on this report, the most important point of the recent statistics of foreign trade is the in­crease in the rate of exports growth and decrease in the rate of imports growth for the last two months . In other words during the mentioned period , non-oil exports increased by 17.72 per­cent while imports showed growth of 14.98 percent .

The main export items included liquefied propane , methanol, and butane and the main im­por­ters of Iranian goods were China, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and India.
Wheat with share of 3.38 percent , corn with 3.01 percent, rice with 2.91 percent , soy bean meal with 2.61 percent and vehicles with internal combustion piston engine with cylinder capa­city of more than 1500 cc with share of 2.56 percent of total value of imports formed the main import items of the country . During the mentioned period, UAE, China, South Korea and Turkey were the main countries exported goods to Iran respectively.