Iran Agrifood Exports Rise 23% as Imports Fall 6%

EghtesadOnline: More than 4 million tons of agricultural and food products worth $3.72 billion were exported from Iran during the first seven months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Oct. 22) to register 23% growth in value compared with last year's corresponding period.

News ID: ۷۸۴۳۶۹

03 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 13.7% of the total volume and value of Iran's non-oil exports of 67.36 million tons worth $27.22 billion respectively over the period under review, the news portal of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture reported.

The exports mainly included fruits worth $740 million, vegetables worth $657 million, milk and dairy products worth $$381 million, saffron worth $179 million and fish worth $137 million, accounting for 19.9%, 17.6%, 10.2%, 4.8% and 3.7% of the total value of agrifood exports during the seven months respectively, according to Financial Tribune.

Iraq, Afghanistan, the UAE, Pakistan, India, China, Kuwait, Russia, Turkmenistan and Turkey were the biggest export destinations in a descending order, as around 87% of agrifood exports went to these eight countries.

Each ton of agrifood exports was valued at $909.6 on average, which is 125% more than the price of each ton of non-oil exports ($404) over the period.

Meanwhile Imports of agrifood products during the same period stood at close to 11 million tons valued at more than $6 billion, which shows a 6.6% decrease in value compared with the corresponding period of the preceding year.

The imports accounted for 58.3% and 23% of the total volume and value of Iran’s total non-oil imports of 18.92 million tons worth $26.3 billion respectively.

The main imported agrifood products during the period included corn (close to $1.12 billion), rice ($990 million), soybeans ($790 million), vegetable oils ($533 million), red meat ($443 million), oilcake ($306 million), barley ($272 million) fruits ($263 million), accounting for 18.5%, 16.4%, 13.1%, 8.8%, 7.3%, 5.1%, 4.5% and 4.3% of all agrifood imports during the seven months respectively.

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

The biggest exporters to Iran were India ($941 million), Switzerland ($877 million), the UAE ($578 million), Singapore ($475 million) the Netherlands ($491), the UK ($413 million), Turkey ($267 million), Brazil ($266 million),  Russia ($241 million) and Pakistan ($178 million).

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

Each ton of agrifood imports was valued at around $548, which was 60.6% less than the price for each ton of imported non-oil products over the same period ($1,390).

The above data show Iran recorded an agrifood trade deficit of more than $2.32 billion for the seven-month period, which shows a 21% improvement year-on-year.