IRICA: Iran’s Exports to Iraq Cross $8.2bn

Date: 02 March 2022 - 21:52

News ID: ۱۰۰۵۸۴

TEHRAN - Iranian Customs (IRICA) spokesman Rouhollah Latifi says in the first 11 months of this year, more than 28 million tons of goods worth over 8.2 billion dollars were exported from Iran to Iraq, which translates to a 17% increase in weight and a 20% increase in value compared to the same period last year.

Speaking in a conference on opportunities and strategies for development of exports to the southern provinces of Iraq on Wednesday, Latifi said the many commonalities between Iran and Iraq have caused non-oil exports to increase from $145 million in 2001 to $9 billion in 2019.

Latifi said Iran’s imports from Iraq during the 11 months have reached 2.2 million tons and are worth more than one billion dollars, which is more in terms of volume than imports from Iraq in the last 20 years.

According to the Iranian customs spokesman, Iran’s total imports from Iraq in the past two decades are 1,312,894 tons of goods worth more than 1.3 billion dollars.

Latifi emphasized that the implementation of international transportation rules, unified border command, professional export, proper packaging, production planning and meeting the country’s needs through Iraq all can help develop trade between the two countries.

Iran Eyes $55bn in Non-Oil Exports Revenue

On Tuesday, head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization Alireza Peymanpak said the country is expected to meet a non-oil exports revenue target of $55 billion in the calendar year to March 2023.

Peymanpak said that engineering services exports would account for nearly 10% of Iran’s total exports over the next calendar year.

Peymanpak said that Iran plans to increase shipments to countries in Southeast Asia and Africa to meet the target.

Figures by the Iranian customs office (IRICA) shows that Iranian exports topped $45 billion in the 11 months to late February, an increase of nearly 40% from the similar period over 2020-2021.

Engineering services exports accounted for a bulk of the growth reported in Iran’s non-oil exports over the period with IRICA figures suggesting that earnings from those services had nearly quadrupled year on year.

The export target set for next calendar year would be an increase of 14.5% from figures projected for the year to March 2022.

Peymanpak said that Iran will dispatch more commercial attaches to its embassies around the world to boost exports. He said the number of those attaches will more than triple next calendar year to cover 30 missions.

Iran has reported increased activity in non-oil trade sector since the United States imposed sanctions on the country’s crude sales in 2018.

Petrochemicals have accounted for a bulk of Iranian exports in recent years thanks to a major boom reported in the sector because of government’s expansion strategies.

Iran has also benefitted from increased shipments of minerals to East Asia while food exports to neighbors have increased consistently since 2019.