TEHRAN, Iran, Oct. 23
Trend:
The head of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce announced the Chamber`s proposal to establish trade centers in different countries to facilitate the foreign currency exchange between the country's exporters and importers.
“The Iranian exports were under pressure due to sanctions, which increased by the coronavirus and the closure of borders,” MajidReza Hariri said, Trend reports citing ILNA.
Referring to the Customs statistics he anticipated that by the end of the Iranian year (end on March 21, 2021), non-oil exports will decrease by about 35 to 40 percent compared to last year.
“Most of our exports are raw materials and the demand for raw materials has decreased.”
Regarding Iran's major exports, he said that “More than 60 to 70 percent of our export are Petrochemicals, gas, condensate, and minerals.”
“The price of these raw materials has decreased,” he said. “Earlier in the year, prices fell sharply but are now recovering. However, by the end of the year, we have a 35 to 40 percent reduction in non-oil exports.”
Hariri criticized the limitation of Iran`s export goods adding that Iran exports have fundamental problems, such as the fact that a major part of our exports is raw materials; Except for the two markets of Iraq and Afghanistan.
“If we exclude China, the UAE, and Iraq from our non-oil export targets, our non-oil exports will be reduced by 70 percent,” said Hariri. “Our non-oil exports are almost to five countries, and this limited market is a strategic risk to our foreign trade.”
He went on to say that almost 55 percent of our non-oil exports are gas condensate, and petrochemicals: that is, more than half of our non-oil exports are actually oil products whereas 20 percent of the other half are crude minerals.
Criticizing the foreign trade policies of Iran, the head of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce said that "In recent decades, policymakers under the “supporting national production” policy have slowed down our production."
“Because our production in the country has always been supported either with high tariffs or, as it is now, with the import ban,” he explained adding that the domestic goods cannot compete with foreign goods.