Imported goods tripled in one month: Which country is Iran's main partner?

In Economist Farsi, we translate the most important economical news of Iran.

According to the estimates of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, in September, compared to the previous month, goods imported into the country have tripled in value. Also in the same month, the value of exports increased 1.2 times. Iran had about $ 4.1 billion in exports and $ 6.5 billion in imports in September.

The investigations show that the allocation of Governmental USD with the Value of (1 USD = 4200 Tomans) in the first half of this year has continued and by the end of September, about 12.4 million tons of basic goods worth seven billion dollars have been imported into. (The price of dollar at the moment in Iran’s market is 1 USD = 28000 Tomans but the government gives subsidies to special companies to import goods. This has caused major corruption).

The volume of transit of foreign goods in Iran has exceeded 5.86 million tons, which shows a growth of 88% compared to the same period last year.

The presented statistics show that Iran's trade in terms of weight and value is experiencing a significant increase compared to the previous year. Exports of Iranian goods in the first six months of 1400 = 2021 exceeded 60 million tons, which shows an increase of 30 percent, and in contrast to Iran imported about 19 million tons of goods, which also increased by 14 percent.

In terms of value, Iran's exports during this period were 21.8 and imports 23.1 billion dollars, which shows a growth of 61 and 37 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

There are no major changes in the destinations and principles of export and import. China continues to be Iran's main export destination with $ 6.5 billion worth of Iranian goods, and Iraq with $ 3.8 billion, Turkey with $ 2.3 billion, the United Arab Emirates with $ 2.2 billion and Afghanistan with $ 1 billion.

In the above-mentioned figures, the differences between China and Iraq are remarkable. At some point last year, Iraq's imports from Iran were even higher than China's, but in 2021, China bought nearly twice as much goods from Iran.

Among the main exporters of goods to Iran, the United Arab Emirates has been able to stabilize its position by exporting $ 7.3 billion worth of goods to Iran. Turkey is next with $ 2.4 billion, followed by Switzerland with $ 900 million in exports to Iran.

According to trade statistics, Iran's trade balance with China was positive $ 1.5 billion and with Turkey was almost zero.

However, the trade balance with the UAE is almost $ 5 billion negative. Thus, China is still Iran's main partner in total exports and imports, and the United Arab Emirates is very close to China in this statistic.

Translator: Fazel Ahmadzadeh from Economist Farsi