Iran Agrifood Exports Up 15.3%, Imports Down 4.9 Percent

EghtesadOnline: Iran exported 5.06 million tons of agricultural and food products worth $4.76 billion during the first nine months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Dec. 21) to register a 15.3% growth in value compared with last year's corresponding period.

News ID: ۷۴۶۴۷۹

14 January 2019

The growth for the nine-month period is a record high compared with the corresponding periods of previous years, 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 5.8% and 14.3% of the total volume and value of Iran's non-oil exports of 86.94 million tons worth $33.35 billion respectively over the period, the news portal of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture reported.

The exports mainly included fruits worth $1.05 million, vegetables worth $797 million, milk and dairy products worth $471 million, saffron worth $265 million and fish and shrimps worth $242 million, accounting for 22%, 16.7%, 9.9%, 5.6% and 5.1% of the total value of agrifood exports during the nine months respectively, according to Financial Tribune.

Iraq, Afghanistan, the UAE, Pakistan, Russia, India, Turkey, Vietnam Turkmenistan 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 $941 on average, which is 145% more than the price of each ton of non-oil exports ($384) for the period under review.

Agrifood imports during the same period stood at 14.43 million tons worth $7.59 billion, which shows a 4.9% fall in value compared with the corresponding period of the preceding year.

The imports accounted for 60% and 23.3% of the total volume and value of Iran’s total non-oil imports of 23.87 million tons worth $32.62 billion respectively.

The main imported agrifood products during the period included corn ($1.49 billion), rice ($1.03 billion), soybeans ($944 million), vegetable oils ($724 million), red meat ($587 million), barley ($421 million),  oilcake ($383 million) and fruits ($306 million), which accounted for 19.7%, 13.6%, 12.4%, 9.5%, 7.7%, 5.9%, 5% and 4% of all agrifood imports during the nine months respectively.

The above products accounted for 80% of the total value of agrifood imports over the period.

The biggest exporters to Iran were Switzerland ($1.2 billion), India ($1.02 million), the UAE ($736 million), Singapore ($602 million), the UK ($530 million), the Netherlands ($528), Turkey ($368 million), Russia ($359 million), Brazil ($307million), Pakistan ($194 million) and Germany ($193 million).

The above-mentioned countries accounted for nearly 79.3% of Iran's total agrifood imports.

Each ton of agrifood imports was valued at $526, which was 62% less than the price for each ton of imported non-oil products over the same period ($1,367).

The above data show Iran recorded an agrifood trade deficit of $2.83 billion for the nine-month period, which shows a 6.7% improvement year-on-year.