TEHRAN – Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA), in collaboration with the Iran-Turkey Joint Chamber of Commerce, hosted a conference on trade opportunities of Iran and Turkey on Sunday, the ICCIMA portal reported.

The conference was attended by the Director-General of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization (TPO)'s Office of West Asian Countries Farzad Piltan, Head of Iran-Turkey Joint Chamber of Commerce Mehrdad Saadat, and Commercial Counselor of the Turkish Embassy in Tehran Bulent Orhan, along with representatives of Iranian companies active in the Turkish market.

In this gathering, Saadat proposed that Iran's trade with Turkey should be handed to the private sector, saying: “The government cannot be a good businessman. But the real private sector has already come to work and can operate with the support of the government.”

Pointing out that Iran was not able to realize its potential of $15 billion dollar exchanges from Turkey's 500-billion-dollar trade volume last year, he continued: “Although our exports to Turkey are growing, they are not satisfactory.”

He noted that the government must trust the private sector in order to realize the trade potential with Turkey.

“Over 85 percent of Turkey's economy is in the hands of the private sector and they are more inclined to interact with the private sector of Iran,” the official said.

He emphasized that the preferential trade between Iran and Turkey should be operational as soon as possible and the meeting of the two countries’ joint economic committee should be held after a long break.

Elsewhere in the conference, Piltan emphasized that Iran and Turkey can be very suitable business partners for each other, saying: “In terms of exports, we can aim for greater figures with Turkey because the infrastructure is almost ready. In terms of imports, Turkey can play a special role in meeting the needs of our country. In the field of transit, there is good cooperation between the two countries, and Iran and Turkey are good crossings for exporting each other's goods to third countries.”

Iran exports non-oil goods worth over $835m to Turkey in 2 months

Iran exported non-oil commodities valued at $835 million to Turkey during the first two months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-May 21), the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

Mohammad Rezvani-Far said that Turkey was the third top export destination of Iranian non-oil goods in the mentioned two-month period.

The official further announced that exporting non-oil goods worth $903 million to Iran, Turkey was also Iran’s third top source of import in the first two months of this year.

According to the data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, the value of Iran’s exports to neighboring Turkey stood at $820 billion in the first four months of 2023.

The exports to Turkey in the mentioned four months declined 33 percent compared to the same period in 2022; Turkey had imported over $1.231 billion worth of commodities from the Islamic Republic in the first four months of the previous year.

Based on the mentioned data, Iran’s imports from the country also marked a four-percent decline to hit $904 million during January-April in comparison with the same time span in 2022 when the figure was $942 million.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, the trade between the two countries has registered a 20-percent decline in the said four months compared to the same period in the previous year.

The value of trade between the two neighbors reached $1.725 billion in January-April, while the figure stood at $2.173 billion in the previous year’s same time span.

More than 40 percent drop in natural gas prices has been said to be the most important reason for the drop in the value of trade between Iran and Turkey in the first four months of 2023.

The trade between Iran and Turkey stood at $6.42 billion in 2022, 15 percent more than the figure in 2021 when the figure was $5.59 billion.

The value of Iran’s exports to Turkey increased by 19 percent to reach $3.35 billion in 2022; Turkey had imported over $2.82 billion worth of commodities from the Islamic Republic in 2021.

Iran’s imports from the country also marked an 11-percent rise to hit $3.07 billion in the past year, in comparison with 2021, when the figure was $2.77 billion.

Iran's trade balance with Turkey has been $280 million positive in favor of Iran in the past year.

Also, as previously announced by Farzad Piltan, the value of Iran’s export to Turkey increased by 23 percent in the past Iranian calendar year 1401 (ended on March 20).

Piltan said that based on the data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), Iran exported commodities worth $7.45 billion to its neighbor in 1401, while the figure was $6.079 in 1400.

Saying that Turkey was Iran’s third top export destination in the past year, the official named natural gas, aluminum, urea, polyethylene, copper cathode and cathode parts, copper wires, iron and steel ingots, and polyethylene as the major products Iran exported to Turkey in the previous year.

He further announced that Iran’s import from Turkey also rose 15 percent to about $6 billion in 1401, from $5.2 billion in 1400.

Stating that Turkey was the third source of import for Iran in the previous year, the official named sunflower seed oil, road tractors, corn, bananas, generators, barley, soybeans, synthetic fibers, crude soybean oil, and solid acrylic polymers as the main items Iran imported from its neighbor in 1401.

EF/MA