Iran’s trade with neighboring countries posts 19% hike
The spokesperson for the Trade Development Commission of Iran’s House of Industry, Mine and Trade, Rouhollah Latifi, announced that Iran’s trade with its 15 neighboring countries saw significant growth in the first 10 months of the current year (March 20, 2024-January 19, 2025).
Latifi stated on Saturday that during the period, Iran exchanged 93.57 million tons of non-oil goods valued at $59.66 billion with its neighbors. This represents a 16.2% increase in weight and a 19.2% rise in value compared to the same period last year.
He noted that trade with neighboring countries accounted for 59.2% of Iran’s total trade volume and 57.5% of its total trade value during the 10-month period. Exports to neighboring countries reached 75.38 million tons, worth $29.78 billion, marking a 24% increase in weight and a 28% rise in value compared to the previous year. Latifi emphasized that non-oil exports to neighboring countries constituted 59.2% of Iran’s total export volume and 62.4% of its total export value during the same period.
Iraq, UAE, Turkey as top export destinations
Latifi highlighted that Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Turkey were Iran’s top export destinations.
Iraq purchased $10.18 billion worth of goods, a 31% increase; the UAE imported $5.96 billion, up 12%; and Turkey bought $5.54 billion, a 43% rise.
Following these countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan were the next major destinations, with Afghanistan importing $1.97 billion (a 31% increase) and Pakistan purchasing $1.94 billion (a 16% rise).
Latifi also provided details on exports to other neighboring countries with Oman: $1.3 billion (14% growth), Russia: $889.3 million (17% growth), Azerbaijan: $572.9 million (14.5% growth), Turkmenistan: $460.3 million (25% growth), Armenia: $402.5 million (21% growth), Kazakhstan: $227.4 million (39% growth), Kuwait: $192.6 million (34% growth), Qatar: $112.4 million (24% growth), Saudi Arabia: $23.8 million (6,492% growth) and Bahrain: $13.4 million (61% growth).
These countries ranked sixth to 15th among Iran’s export destinations as neighboring states.