Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Iran, a country which mainly exports oil products, has recently markedly increased its non-oil exports.

Iran trades with a relatively small number of countries, exporting its non-commodity products mainly to the largest countries of Asia, with 37 percent of its non-oil exports going to China. Exports to Europe, which represent a 40 percent larger non-oil market than the Asian market, remain weak.

Over the past 15 years, exports of non-oil products from Iran have grown by 483 percent, said Mohammadreza Modoudi, Acting Head of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPO).

Modoudi noted that the country’s annual non-oil exports currently stand at $44.3 billion, which is $36.7 billion more compared to $7.6 billion 15 years ago, when TPO was created.

He pointed out that exports of non-oil products to neighboring countries increased even more: this figure increased from $3.2 billion to $24 billion.

Earlier, Modoudi announced that the value of Iranian non-oil exports from March 21 to May 21, 2019 reached $8.4 billion, which is 8.9 percent more compared to the same period of 2018.

He also estimated the country's services exports at $1.6 billion, which is 17 percent more than a year earlier.

The tightening of the sanctions regime, especially the embargo on the import of Iranian oil and the disconnection of Iranian banks from the SWIFT system, had a decisive impact on Iran’s economy. This negatively affected the non-oil economy as well.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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