TEHRAN – The value of Iran’s exports to India increased five percent in the first six months of 2023, as compared to the same period of time in 2022, according to the data released by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The Indian ministry put the worth of Iran’s exports to India at $352 million in January-June 2023, while the figure was $335 million in the same time span of 2022, IRNA reported.

As reported, the two countries’ trade dropped 27 percent to $993 million in the first half of this year from $1.373 billion in the first six months of the past year.

The decrease in trade between Iran and India in the first half of 2023 was caused by the drop in the country's exports to Iran. India's exports to Iran in the mentioned six months experienced a 38 percent drop and reached $641 million. In the first half of last year, India exported $1.038 billion of goods to Iran.

Rice had the largest share in India's export basket to Iran in the first half of this year, accounting for 67 percent of the country's total exports to Iran in this period. Fruit with $29 million and tea with $17 million were the second and third top exported goods to Iran, respectively.

On the other hand, oil products were India’s top imported goods from Iran in the first half of 2023; the Asian country imported $139 million of oil products from Iran during this period. Raw materials for color production with $91 million and fruit with $66 million stood in second and third place, respectively.

Based on the data previously released by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the value of Iran’s exports to India increased by 60 percent in 2022 as compared to the preceding year.

The Indian ministry put the worth of Iran’s exports to India at $653 million in 2022, while the figure was $409 million in 2021.

As reported, petroleum products were the major goods imported by India from Iran in the said months.

According to the mentioned data, the value of trade between Iran and India reached $2.5 billion in 2022, rising 48 percent from $1.693 billion in 2021.

During January-December 2022, India’s exports to Iran also increased by 44 percent to stand at $1.847 billion, while the figure was $1.284 billion in 2021.

Rice was India’s major product exported to Iran in the said period during which the country shipped $1.098 billion worth of rice to the Islamic Republic.

EF/MA