Iran's Trade With EU States Drops

EghtesadOnline: Trade between Iran and EU member states during the first quarter of 2019 stood at €1.63 billion to register a more than 69% plunge compared with last year’s corresponding period.

News ID: ۷۴۷۵۹۳

18 June 2019

Iran’s trade with Malta, Cyprus, Bulgaria, the UK and Slovenia increased by 198.59%, 95.19%, 57.69%, 38.24% and 6.67% respectively.

These were the only EU members to experience an increase in commercial exchanges with Iran over the period, while those with the remaining 23 EU member states declined.

Trade with Greece (€13.51 million), Spain (€61.36 million), France (€118.84 million), Italy (€257.69 million) and Poland (€20.28 million) saw the sharpest declines of 97.56%, 91.61%, 85.18%, 78.98% and 76.65% respectively, Financial Tribune reported.

Eurostat (European Statistical Office) is a directorate of the European Commission located in Luxembourg. Its main responsibilities are to provide statistical information to EU institutions and promote the harmonization of statistical methods across its member states and candidates for accession.

The organizations in different countries that cooperate with Eurostat are summarized under the concept of the European Statistical System.

Exports Nosedive 92.5%

Iran exported €217.73 million worth of commodities to the EU during the three-month period, indicating a 92.5% fall compared with the similar period of the previous year.

The country’s main export destinations over the period were Germany (€54.85 million), Belgium (€48.9 million), Italy (€37.9 million), Spain (€17.1 million) and Romania (€10.19 million).

Iran’s exports to Latvia, Estonia and Hungary experienced the highest year-on-year growth rates of 570.77%, 212.45% and 91% respectively.

This is while exports to Greece, France and the Netherlands fell by 99.14%, 99.6% and 95.79% YOY respectively, which are the sharpest among EU member states.

The exported goods mainly included plastic and plastic products worth €68.13 million; edible fruits and nuts, zest of citrus fruit or melons worth €30.76 million; coffee, tea and spices worth €15.35 million; iron and steel worth €15.34 million; carpet and other textile floorings worth €10.78 million; pharmaceutical products worth €10.56 million; products of animal origin worth €8.58 million; iron and steel products valued at €7.18 million; lac, gums, resins and other vegetable saps and extracts worth €6.1 million and.

Imports Fall 40.5%

Imports from the EU dropped by 40.5% to stand at €1.41 billion during the three months.

The top five exporters from the European bloc to Iran were Germany with €459.84 million, Italy with €219.79 million, the Netherlands with €115.61 million, France with €113.63 million and the UK with €82.41 million worth of shipments to Iran.

Cyprus with €2.02 million, Bulgaria with €16.41 million, the UK with €82.41 million, Slovenia with €19.24 million and Greece with €8.82 million were the only EU countries whose exports to Iran saw a YOY increase (115.5%, 102.39%. 49.08%, 20.06% and 10.13% respectively).

Luxembourg with €77,684, Latvia with €134,660 and Slovakia with €740,540 experienced the sharpest YOY decline in exports to Iran (96.47%, 93.61% and 76.86% respectively).

The imports mainly included nuclear reactor parts, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances and parts worth €247.78 million; pharmaceutical products worth €168.31 million; optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus worth €105.83 million; cereals worth €80.2 million; and electrical machinery and equipment, sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers and parts and accessories thereof worth €44.34 million.

Other imported products included organic chemicals worth €35.6 million; miscellaneous chemical products worth €28.1 million; mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation, bituminous substances and mineral waxes worth €26.91 million; plastics and plastic articles worth €26.15 million; oilseeds and oleaginous fruits (used for extracting oil), miscellaneous grains, seeds and industrial or medical plants, straw and fodder valued at €23.33 million.

Trade in March

Iran traded €476.78 million worth of commodities with the European Union member states during March 2019, which shows a 69.36% decline compared with the similar period of last year.

The country’s exports to EU countries reached €81.6 million while imports stood at €395.17 million, indicating an 89.04% and 51.33% decline respectively compared with last March.