Iran-Turkey trade turnover sharply drops
By Sara Rajabova
The trade turnover between Iran and Turkey fell by 41 percent compared to last year.
The Iran-Turkey trade turnover reached some $10.357 billion during first 8 months of the current year, while the figure in the same period of the last year was $17.527 billion, Iranian Tasnim news portal reported.
Iran imported about $3.133 billion worth of goods from Turkey during the period which indicates a decrease by 63 percent compared to the same period of last year.
Meanwhile , Iran exported $7.224 billion worth of goods to Turkey during first 8 months of the current year, which indicates a decrease by 19 percent.
Iran was Turkey's 3st largest goods export market in 2012. Turkish goods exports to Iran in 2012 were $9, 9 billion.
The top export categories for 2012 were: gold and golden plated silver ($6,528 billion); iron and steel ($629 million); textile yarn, fabrics ($226 million); land transportation vehicles ($209 million) electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances ($171 million).
Oil, gas, and petrochemicals account for a lion's share of Iran's export to Turkey.
In December2012, Iran's Ambassador to Turkey Bahman Hosseinpour said that the trade volume between Tehran and Ankara can potentially increase fivefold - to as high as $100 billion a year.
He said that ample investment opportunities await Turkish investors in Iran.
The volume of the trade between Iran and Turkey exceeded $16 billion in 2011. The two countries plan to increase the level of their bilateral trade volume to $30 billion by 2015.