TEHRAN, Iran, Aug.18
Trend:
The Head of Iran and Iraq Chamber of Commerce predicted a sharp increase in bilateral trade after a year of decline in trade due to Covid-19.
Iran has exported commodities valued at $2.8 billion to Iraq during the first four months of the current Iranian year(started March 21, 2021) which is equal to the $700 million per month, Hamid Hosseini told Trend in an interview.
"Total of 3,000 trucks per day have transported commodity from Iran to Iraq," he added.
Iraq closed its international borders and provincial boundaries in March 2020 for about 5 months, except for the delivery of essential goods such as food as it sought to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
"The following figures indicate the limitations of trade with Iraq that was happened during a pandemic and caused the closure of borders in the early months of the last Iranian year (started March 20, 2020) are no longer exist and the trade situation with Iraq has improved as well," Hosseini noted.
He went on to say that stable regulations have been created in Iran and restrictions have been reduced therefore Iran's export to Iraq has increased.
The official predicted that the following volume of export would continue saying Iran's export to Iraq would reach the export level of 2018 which was $9 billion.
Iran's export to Iraq has declined in the last Iranian year to $7.2 billion, the country has fallen from the top rank of exporters to Iraq to third. Turkey and China have replaced Iran as top exporters to Iraq in the last Iranian year, in which Turkey's export to Iraq was $9 billion and China's export was $8 billion.
"The opportunity has improved for Iran in the current Iranian year to gain its share of the Iraqi market," Hosseini stressed.
Iran and Iraq presidents have previously agreed to augment trade between the two countries to $20 billion a year, but the Covid-19 became a major obstacle for boosting bilateral trades.
He noted that if Iran continues the current trend of export which is $700 million per month, Iran could increase its export to Iraq to $9.5 billion by the end of the current Iranian year.
"Gas and electricity shared 35 percent of Iran's export to Iraq, although power export to Iraq has been stopped in past two months whereas gas export has increased," Hosseini said referring to the share of Iran gas and electricity export to Iraq.