Iran Agrifood Exports Up 7.9%, Imports Fall 4.5 Percent

EghtesadOnline: Iran exported 4.58 million tons of agricultural and food products worth $4.57 billion during the first eight months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Nov. 21) to register a 7.9% growth in value compared with last year's corresponding period.

News ID: ۷۴۶۳۸۰

25 December 2018

The growth is an all-time high, according to the latest report released by the National Agriculture and Water Strategic Research Center, which draws on data provided by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.

Agrifood exports accounted for 6.1% and 14.5% of the total volume and value of Iran's non-oil exports of 75.27 million tons worth $31.49 billion respectively over the period, the news portal of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture reported.

The exports mainly included fruits worth $987 million, vegetables worth $772 million, milk and dairy products worth $463 million, saffron worth $252 million and fish worth $155 million, accounting for 21.6%, 16.9%, 10.1%, 5.5% and 3.4% of the total value of agrifood exports during the eight months respectively, Financial Tribune reported.

Iraq, Afghanistan, the UAE, Pakistan, Russia, India, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Vietnam and Germany were the biggest export destinations in a descending order, as around 82% of Iran’s agrifood exports went to these 10 countries.

Each ton of agrifood exports was valued at $998 on average, which is 139% more than the price of each ton of non-oil exports ($418) over the period.

Imports of agrifood products during the same period stood at 12.81 million tons valued at $6.88 billion, which register a 4.5% fall in value compared with the corresponding period of the preceding year.

The imports accounted for 52% and 20% of the total volume and value of Iran’s total non-oil imports of 21.49 million tons worth $29.54 billion respectively.

The main imported agrifood products during the period included corn ($1.29 billion), rice ($1 billion), soybeans ($932 million), vegetable oils ($633 million), red meat ($525 million), barley ($356 million)  oilcake ($337 million) and fruits ($286 million), which account for 18.8%, 14.5%, 13.5%, 9.2%, 7.6%, 5.2%, 4.9% and 4.2% of all agrifood imports during the eight months respectively.

The above-mentioned products accounted for 78% of the total value of agrifood imports over the period.

The biggest exporters to Iran were Switzerland ($1.04 billion), India ($972 million), the UAE ($677 million), Singapore ($530 million) the Netherlands ($495), the UK ($483 million), Turkey ($314 million), Russia ($296 million), Brazil ($289 million) and Pakistan ($185 million).

The above-mentioned countries accounted for nearly 77% of Iran's total agrifood imports.

Each ton of agrifood imports was valued at around $537, which was 62% less than the price for each ton of imported non-oil products over the same period ($1,398).

The above data show Iran recorded an agrifood trade deficit of more than $2.3 billion for the eight-month period, which shows a 22% improvement year-on-year.