TEHRAN – Head of Islamic Republic of Iran Custom Administration (IRICA) said despite the U.S. sanctions Iran managed to export commodities to 128 countries in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19) while importing from 112 trade partners, IRNA reported.

According to Mehdi Mir-Ashrafi, Asian countries account for over 70 percent of Iran’s foreign trade and Europe is the Islamic Republic’s second-biggest trade partner.

As reported, Iran exported non-oil commodities to 40 European countries, 21 Asian countries, 28 African countries, and 12 American countries, while importing from 41 European countries, 31 Asian countries, 12 American countries, and 11 countries in Africa.

The IRICA has put the country’s total foreign trade in the past year at $85.107 billion, noting that of the mentioned total figure the share of Iran’s exports was $41.37 billion while the imports stood at $43.737 billion.

The total weight of the country’s foreign trade was reported to be 169.302 million tons.

Trade with Asia

According to Mir-Ashrafi, Iran's exports to Asia were more than $30 billion while the imports from Asian trade partners exceeded $27.73 billion.

China was Iran’s top export destination with $9.46 billion of imports from Iran followed by Iraq with $8.99 billion, as well as the United Arab Emirates with $4.5 billion of imports.

In terms of imports, Iran's first three partners in Asia were China with more than $11.2 million, followed by the UAE and India with $8.9 billion and over $3.46 billion, respectively.

Trade with Europe

Based on the IRICA data, in the mentioned period, Iran exported $9 billion worth of commodities to the green continent while the imports stood at $15 billion.

Among European countries, Turkey is the main export destination of Iranian goods with more than $5.46 billion, followed by Russia with $457.63 million and Azerbaijan with $429.78 million.

Meanwhile, among its European trade partners, Iran has the highest level of imports from Turkey with $4.99 billion, followed by Germany with $2.1 billion and Russia with $1.7 billion.

Trade with America

In America, the country has the highest exports to Brazil with $105.72 million, followed by Canada with about $19 million and Venezuela with more than $1.184 million worth of exports.

Also, among the American countries, the highest imports were from Brazil with $555.57 million, followed by Argentina with $555.57 million, and finally Canada with more than $52.1 million.

Trade with Africa

Referring to Iran's economic partners in Africa, Mir-Ashrafi noted that in the previous year, Iran exported $72.59 million worth of commodities to Mozambique, over $62.917 million to Sudan and $52.26 million to Kenya.

It also imported over $6.36 million from Kenya, $5.412 million from Ethiopia, and more than $4.66 million from Tunisia.

EF/MA