TEHRAN - The value of trade between Iran and France increased by 53 percent to reach €235.4 million in the first eight months of 2022, according to the data released by the European Union's statistics office Eurostat.

Based on Eurostat data, the trade between the two countries stood at €153.2 during January-August 2021, IRNA reported.

During the said eight months, Iran’s imports from the country marked a 58-percent rise to hit €225 million. The European country exported €142 million worth of goods to Iran in the first eight months of 2021.

Despite the significant growth of French exports to Iran during the January-August period, the country's imports from Iran decreased by seven percent and settled at €10.4 million. France had imported €11.2 million worth of commodities from Iran in the first eight months of the previous year.

The 53-percent growth of the trade between the two countries in the mentioned period is significant because the trade between Iran and France has gone through a downward trend over the past four years, so that in 2018 the trade between the two countries declined 36 percent, in 2019, 83 percent, and in 2020, as much as 31 percent. The volume of trade between the two countries decreased by 10 percent in 2021.

The value of trade exchanges between Iran and France in 2019 amounted to €394 million, which was reduced to €271 million in 2020 and to €242 million in 2021.

According to the Eurostat, the total value of trade between Iran and the European Union reached €3.403 billion in January-August 2022, while the figure was €2.649 billion in the same period of 2021.

The value of Iran’s export to the EU member states rose 31 percent in the first eight months of 2022, as compared to the same period in 2021.

Iran exported commodities worth €727 million to the union in the eight-month period of this year, while the figure was €555 million in the same time span of the previous year.

The EU’s export to Iran also rose 28 percent to €2.676 billion from €2.094 billion.

Among the EU member states, Germany was Iran’s top trade partner in the mentioned eight months, accounting for 64 percent of Iran’s total trade with the union.

EF/MA