Iran’s Exports Sharply Dropped In 2020

ICBPS- Customs statistics of Iran’s Main Trade Partners show a significant decline in their imports from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

China on Friday released a report on its oil trade with the Islamic Republic, which shows that in the first 11 months of 2020, it imported an average of 75,000 barrels (worth one billion and 125 million dollars) of oil per day from Iran — equivalent to one-third of China’s oil imports from Iran in the same period last year.

The decline is due to the Chinese Coronavirus outbreak, and the fall in oil prices this year.

According to the Chinese Customs report, released its full foreign trade report on Thursday, showing that Iran’s oil and non-oil exports to the nation fell by about 55 percent in the first 11 months of 2020 to $7.8 billion, and China’s total exports to Iran also fell by 10 percent, dropped to $13.5 billion.

In early November, ICBPS reported that, China, as Iran’s major trading partner, still maintains a large trade volume with Iran, but Tehran’s seven-month exports to Beijing also fell 61 percent to $ 3.5 billion. Iran’s imports from the Far East nation decreased by six percent during the same period to $5.12 billion.

Other Iran’s East Asian Trade Partners

S.Korea’s customs statistics show that it imported only $8 million from Iran in the first 11 months of this year, compared to $2.1 billion in the same period last year. South Korea’s exports to Iran also reached $167 million, dropped 40 percent from the same period last year.

Japan’s customs statistics also show that it exported $75 million in the first 11 months of this year, and half of the amount was imported from Iran.

At the same time, Japan’s exports to Iran were $63 million, and its imports from Iran were 1 billion and 223 million dollars.

The Indian Ministry of Economy, however, has not yet released its figures, but its latest figures show it imported $228 million from Iran in the first 10 months of 2020, which was $3.340 billion in the same period last year.

India’s exports to Iran have also fallen by 40 percent, dropped to $2 billion.

Thus, Iran’s total exports to China, South Korea, Japan, and India fell to a quarter of last year ($24 billion in 11 months of 2019).

Turkey and Europe

According to the latest report of Turkish Statistics Center, it exported $1.7 billion to Iran in the first 10 months of 2020, which is 23 percent less than the same period last year, and its imports from Iran decreased from $3.4 billion to $880 million in the same period.

Eurostat statistics of the European Union’s statistics center show that only €604 million were imported from Iran in the first 10 months of the year. The amount of imports, however, has increased by 6.5 percent compared to the same period last year, but, it has decreased significantly, compared to the amount €9 billion in the first 10 months of 2018.

The EU exports to Iran also fell to 17 percent, declined to €3 billion in the first 10 months of this year, compared to the same period in 2018 — less than half.

Iraq, the UAE, and, Afghanistan have not released customs reports on their trade with the Islamic Republic in 2020.

The ICBPS team gathered the report. The Institute of Capacity Building for Political Studies (ICBPS) is a non-governmental research institute focusing on political studies, international security, and international relations.