...

Iran, Japan discuss forming joint trade committee

Iran Materials 9 December 2013 12:37 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Dec.9

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

Iran and Japan have discussed forming a joint trade committee in a bid to boost bilateral ties, the Mehr News Agency reported on December 9.

Iranian Industry Minister Mohammadreza Ne'matzadeh met with Japanese Hiroyuki Ishige, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Japan External Trade Organisation, in Tehran.

The Iranian minister said that the trade between Iran and Japan reached $819.7 million in 2012, of which the share of imports from Japan was $724.6 million.

Iran-Japan trade turnover had almost tripled since 1990 until 2011, reaching from $5.1 billion to above $14 billion, but Japan's concerns about Western sanctions over Iran led to a significant decrease in bilateral trade during the past couple of years.

According to Iran's Custom Administration's report, Iran's non-oil imports from Japan during a 12-month period from 20 March, 2012 to 20 March 2013, decreasing to $585 million from $1.29 billion in the preceding solar year, indicates a 55 per cent drop.

Iran's non-oil exports to Japan including condensate and LPG, also decreased to $47.6 million in the last solar year from $512 million during the preceding year which shows huge reduction.

Japan also cut Iranian oil imports by 40 per cent during 2012 compared to 2011, while the country kept Iranian crude oil imports below 0.2 mbpd (194,936 bpd) during the first three quarters of 2013.

Latest

Latest