Iran Agrifood Exports Rise 25% to Earn $2 Billion in Four Months

EghtesadOnline: More than 2.4 million tons of agricultural and food products worth $2.08 billion were exported from Iran during the first four months of the current Iranian year (March 21-July 22), to register a 25.2% growth in value compared with last year's corresponding period.

News ID: ۷۸۳۷۱۸

18 August 2018

This growth indicates an all-time record high, based on a report released by the National Agriculture and Water Strategic Research Center, citing the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration's latest data.

Agrifood exports accounted for 6.4% and 13.5% of the total volume and value of Iran's non-oil exports in the four-month period (37.4 million tons worth $15.45 billion) respectively, the news portal of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture reported.

The exports mainly included fruits worth $422 million, vegetables worth $345 million, milk and dairy products worth $226 million and saffron worth $98.5 million, accounting for a 20.2%, 16.5%, 10.8% and 4.7% share of the total value of agrifood exports respectively, Financial Tribune reported.

Iraq, Afghanistan, the UAE, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Turkey, India, Germany, Oman and Qatar were the biggest export destinations in a descending order, as around 81% of agrifood exports went to these 10 countries.

Each ton of agrifood export was valued at $870 on average while each ton of non-oil exports in the first four months of the current year averaged $413.

The import of agrifood products during the period stood at 6.98 million tons valued at more than $3.68 billion, which shows a 1.5% decrease in value compared with the corresponding period of the preceding year.

The volume of purchases accounted for 59.7% and 24.3% of the total volume and value of Iran’s non-oil imports over the period (11.55 million tons worth $15.17 billion) respectively.

The main imported agrifood products included corn ($719 million), rice ($675 million), soybeans ($492 million), vegetable oils  ($255 million), red meat ($247 million), different types of fruit ($193 million), barley ($1 66 million) and oilseed meals ($146 million), accounting for 19.5%, 18.3%, 13.4%, 6.9%, 6.7%, 5.2%, 4.5% and 4% of all agrifood imports during the four months respectively.

The biggest exporters to Iran were India ($624 million), Switzerland ($479 million), the UAE ($337 million), Singapore ($321 million), the UK ($292 million), the Netherlands ($203 million), Brazil ($188 million), Turkey ($148 million),  Pakistan ($121 million) and Russia ($119 million).

The abovementioned countries accounted for nearly 77% of Iran's agrifood imports.

Each ton of agrifood imports during the period was valued at $534 while each ton of imported non-oil products over the same period averaged $1,314.

Iran recorded an agrifood trade deficit of $1.59 billion over the four-month period, which shows a 22.9% rise year-on-year.