Report: China, Iraq, UAE Top Trade Partners of Iran

A new report shows that China, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been respectively the top three destinations for Iran’s exported goods in the first 7 months of the current local calendar year (March 21- October 22), which means the Europeans have failed to establish proportionate trade ties with Tehran despite their claims.

Statistics for the first 7 months of the Iranian year of 1398 show that China, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been three major destinations for Iran’s exported goods.

Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture has released the statistics for the first seven months of the current Iranian year of 1398 (from March 21, 2019, until 22 October 2019), suggesting that 58% of the Iranian exports were to China, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The figures show that despite the Europeans’ claim that their promised financial mechanism for legal trade with Iran under the US sanctions would increase transactions between the Islamic Republic and the bloc, they are far behind China and neighboring countries in economic relations with Tehran.

The report highlights that the US sanctions have gravely affected Iran’s trade with Europeans, indicating that the bloc is abiding by Washington’s unilateral measures.

Accordingly, it comes as no surprise that Iran has focused on the regional and neighboring countries for its exports.

It is also noteworthy that Turkey and Afghanistan were the fourth and fifth destinations for Iranian goods during that period, accounting for 14% of the total exports.

On Thursday, Head of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI) Hamid Zadboum announced that plans have been made to boost the annual export of non-oil goods to the neighboring countries to one billion dollars.

“We exported $24 billion of goods to the neighboring states last year and we have made up our minds to raise the figure to one billion dollars this year,” Zadboum said, addressing a seminar honoring top exporters in Hamedan Province.

Noting that intermediaries account for 70 percent of Iran's exports, he added, "Exports are blood in our foreign trade artery and if there are no export earnings, we will not be able to buy the required industrial items.”

In relevant remarks in early October, Iran's Economy Minister Farhad Dejpasand said that Iran exported more than $60 billion worth of non-oil goods during the past one and a half years.

“Iran’s non-oil exports reached $61 billion over past 18 months,” Dejpasand said.

He added that only $27 billion have been repatriated, that is, 45 percent of the total sum.

Iran obliged exporters several months ago to repatriate their forex revenues in a bid to resuscitate the country’s economy.