Baku, Azerbaijan, April 23
By Umid Niayesh – Trend:
The latest official trade statistics of Iran indicates that the Islamic Republic is decreasing the trade balance gap with Russia, as the country has increased its exports to Russia.
The trade balance between the two countries has decreased from $1,350 million in the fiscal year to March 2017 to $457.5 million in the last fiscal year (ended March 2018), however, still in favor of Russia.
Despite the fact that Russia’s exports to Iran flourished during the first year following the removal of the international sanctions in 2016, the latest statistics indicate that the trend has changed downward again.
Iran’s imports from Russia witnessed sharp fall during the last fiscal year by 52.7 percent in terms of value, according to the statistics, released by the Islamic Republic’s Customs Administration.
The country’s imports from Russia amounted to 1.373 million tons, worth $743,151 million in the 12-month period.
The volume of Russia’s exports to Iran also registered a fall by 34.2 percent in the same span of time, according to the data.
On the other hand, the official data indicates that Iran’s exports to Russia has witnessed slight rise in the last fiscal year.
The Islamic Republic exported 540,471 tons of goods to Russia worth $285.7 million in the period, according to the data released by Tehran Chamber of Commerce.
Iran’s export to Russia registered an increase by 30.6 percent in terms of value and 49 percent in terms of volume, respectively, year-on-year.
Food and agricultural products form the lion share of Iran’s export basket to Russia.
The following table, extracted from the data of Iran’s state-run Trade Promotion Organization (TPOI) and Tehran Chamber of Commerce shows Iran’s non-oil trade values with Russia in recent five years.
Year (Iranian fiscal) |
Export, million USD |
Growth % |
Price ($/kg) |
price change% |
Import, million USD |
Growth % |
Price ($/kg) |
price change% |
Trade balance, million USD |
Trade volume, million USD |
91 (2012-2013) |
501 |
35 |
0,5 |
-55 |
1632 |
115 |
0,5 |
-17 |
-1131 |
2133 |
92 (2013-2014) |
317 |
-37 |
0,3 |
-40 |
689 |
-58 |
0,5 |
0 |
-372 |
1006 |
93 (2014-2015) |
295 |
-7 |
0,4 |
33 |
639 |
-7 |
0,5 |
0 |
-344 |
934 |
94 (2015-2016) |
173 |
-41 |
0,4 |
0 |
517 |
-19 |
0,4 |
-20 |
-344 |
690 |
95 (2016-2017) |
219 |
27 |
0,6 |
50 |
1572 |
204 |
0,7 |
75 |
-1353 |
1791 |
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