Service exports triple to $3b as TPO calls for e-commerce reform
A senior Iranian trade official said on Saturday that the country’s service exports had tripled to around $3 billion from $1.2 billion following the removal of foreign currency repatriation requirements, adding that cross-border e-commerce and market intelligence are essential for creative and knowledge-based industries.
Amir Roshan, deputy for international business promotion at the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPO), said the surge underscores how cutting red tape unlocks export capacity, IRNA reported.
“This leap shows that whenever government restrictions on trade are reduced and processes are facilitated, the market responds positively and export capacities become activated,” Roshan told a gathering on cultural and creative industries’ international market entry.
He noted that TPO places special emphasis on non-oil service exports, including creative industries, knowledge-based goods, artistic products, computer services, tourism, engineering, and technical services, “where the share of goods is smaller and the role of services is more prominent.”
A persistent challenge, Roshan said, is weak knowledge of target markets. “Our trade in many cases remains traditional and relies mostly on individual experience, while professional trade worldwide is based on market studies.”
“Producers in fields such as computer games, fashion and clothing, handicrafts, artistic goods, and other creative sectors must properly study the target market before entering foreign markets,” he added. “Many export failures happen because the product is not aligned with the taste, culture, and needs of the destination market.”
Roshan also played down the complexity of services exports compared to goods. “In goods exports, there are issues like standards, quarantine, customs formalities, quotas, and numerous regulations, but in services exports many of these barriers do not exist, making the path easier.”
Cross-border e-commerce
Roshan described cross-border e-commerce as a key priority for TPO, capable of solving traditional export problems for small businesses and individual producers.
“If an Iranian producer offers a product such as saffron, handicrafts, toys, or other goods on a digital platform in the target country, and a foreign consumer buys it on a small scale, this process can be considered personal online sales and small-scale trade, not bulk goods exports,” he said.
He added that a draft regulation on cross-border e-commerce has been revised and submitted to the government for approval. “If approved, we can hope that the path for small-scale exports and the sale of Iranian products in target markets through digital platforms will be facilitated.”