According to the latest data released by Turkish Statistical Institute, the neighboring country's January imports from Iran amounted to $161.1 million, 35.42% higher than in January 2020.
This is while Turkey’s exports to Iran stood at $178.09 million, down 17.89% year-on-year.
Monthly trade between Iran and Turkey fell to under $300 million in September, mostly due to a fall in Iran's exports to the neighboring country. However, the number made a significant jump in December, raising hopes for recovering Covid-19 impacts on trade between the two countries.
Bilateral trade stood at $3.43 billion in 2020, to register a decrease of 45.82% compared with 2019.
Iran exported $1.19 billion worth of goods to Turkey in 2020 to register a 66.9% year-on-year decline. Imports from Turkey stood at $2.245 billion, down 17.97% YOY.
Turkey’s total value of exports amounted $169.48 billion down 6.3%. The country’s imports amounted to $219.39 billion in 2020, up 4.3%, compared with January-December 2019.
Roughly 1 million tons of cargo are to be transported via railroad between Turkey and Iran this year, Turkish authorities said recently.
The Transport and Infrastructure Ministry of Turkey said in a statement that a recent memorandum of understanding signed in a gathering of rail representatives in Turkey's capital Ankara on Jan. 12-13 would open a new era for the transit railroad, Anadolu Agency reported.
Despite the novel coronavirus pandemic, three train services were run daily between Turkey and Iran in 2020, transporting 564,000 tons of cargo, according to the statement.
The statement also announced that freight trains would also run between Turkey and Pakistan via Iran on a common tariff. It added that talks are still ongoing to set this tariff.
With a recently completed railroad between Iran and Afghanistan, it will now also be possible to transport freight between Turkey and Afghanistan.
"After the rail connection between Iran and Afghanistan was completed on Dec. 10, 2020, it became possible for a wagon loaded in Turkey to transit via Iran to Afghanistan," it said.
The rail administrations of Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan will come together in the coming months to set a course for rail transport between Turkey and Afghanistan.
The statement added that efforts were underway for a cargo transportation corridor through Iran between Europe and China.