Africa with over 50 countries has been experiencing some partial stability over the past years, which has led to elevating the infrastructures and increasing economic activities in this large continent.

As statistics show, Africa has imported commodities worth over one trillion dollars in 2018, and a major part of which has been imported from China.

Although the African market is now offering a wide range of opportunities, Iran has not benefitted from this market so much over the past years.

“The development of trade with the African countries has always been a priority for the Iranian government. However, despite the implementation of various programs and agreements in recent years, we have not yet achieved the desired goals and the development of economic and trade relations with Africa due to numerous problems at different levels,” Farzad Piltan, the director-general of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO)’s Office of Arabian and African Countries, has stated. 

Therefore, in order to make Iran capable of benefitting from the capacities of the African market, TPO re-evaluated different aspects of Iran-Africa trade and defined a new strategy to expand Iran’s presence in the markets of African countries.

Among the Iranian products proper for export to Africa, constructional materials and equipment were found as some important ones, because recent development in the African countries has made them an appropriate destination for the exports of such commodities.

China, Spain, Italy, India, France, Turkey, Belgium, and Germany are the major exporters of constructional materials and equipment to Africa.

Of the $620 million worth of Iran’s constructional exports in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19), just $1.5 million has been to Africa.

The issue of boosting the exports of such products to Africa is currently pursuing seriously by the TPO’s Office of Arabian and African Countries.

A recent measure taken by this office was holding a meeting of TPO’s commodity-region desk on boosting the exports of constructional materials and equipment to Africa on October 12.

The mentioned meeting was participated by a number of Iranian government officials as well as Iranian ambassadors to some African countries including Kenya, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Representatives of Iranian private companies, that are producers and exporters of the mentioned products, and representatives of transportation companies, as well as representatives from Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA), and those from related unions and associations, were also present in the meeting.

African countries’ imports of constructional materials and equipment, the problems in the way of exporting these commodities to those countries, return of money, regular and competitive transportation, unknown African markets, difficulty of making connections to the African sides, and the high risk of presence in the African countries were among the issues discussed in the meeting.

Holding such meetings to explore and discuss the ways for the expansion of constructional exports to the African countries, and also close cooperation with the Iranian embassies in those countries, Trade Promotion Organization of Iran hopes to lay the ground for the country to benefit from the large market of Africa in this field.