BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 11
Trend:
The total value of Iran's exports to Iraq in the first nine months of the current Iranian year (started on March 20, 2020) was 20 million tons worth $5.9 billion, Farzad Piltan, the director-general of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization (TPO)'s Office of Arabian and African Countries told Trend.
"In the first nine months of the current Iranian year (started on March 20, 2020), the Iraqi market, attracting 23.6 percent of the total Iran`s non-oil exports, ranked second among Iran's target export countries and first among the neighboring countries,” Piltan said.
Regarding Iran's major exports to Iraq, he said that iron rods, tomatoes, watermelons, tomato paste, steam turbine parts, cheese, biscuits, chocolate and sweets, plastics, pistachios, kitchen utensils, urea, eggs, fresh apples, ice cream, bread, melons, polymer plates, floor coverings, cement, cream and milk are the most important non-oil export items from Iran to Iraq.
He went on to say that the closure of border crossings and trade markets between the two countries for about three months, as well as the closure of trade events such as trade fairs and conferences and exchange of delegations with Iraq due to outbreak of coronavirus and the imposition of restrictions on export of agricultural products by Iraqi side were among the main obstacles to boosting exports to Iraq.
Piltan noted that the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran plans to hold two special exhibitions in Baghdad and Erbil in March.
“PMO is working to compensate the decline in exports by the end of the current Iranian year (ends on March 21, 2021).”