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TODAY.AZ / Analytics

Europe's share in Iran imports halved since 2005

06 May 2014 [15:25] - TODAY.AZ

By Dalga Khatinoglu -Trend:

Iran is going to appoint five new commercial attaches in Europe in a bid to boost its trade ties.

Five new commercial attaches will be dispatched to Germany, Italy, Serbia, Spain, and Switzerland, Miraboutaleb Badri, Deputy Director of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization told Mehr news agency on May 4..

Iran and EU faced a significant drop in trade turnover during Ex-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads' time in office due to Tehran's disputed nuclear program and hard-liners' aggressive foreign policy.

According to Iran Custom Administration and Iran Commerce Chamber's official statistics, Europe had about 50 percent share in Iran's imports in 2005, as well as some 15 percent of Iran's total non-oil exports.

Iran's main European partners in 2005:

Rank	Country	Exports to Iran	Share in Iran's total imports	Imports from Iran	Shares in Iran's total exports	Rank
2	Germany	$5,118,934,175	13.158	$342,778,805	3.665	8
3	France	$2,738,963,825	7.04	$69,887,209	0.747	29
5	Italy	$2,353,990,215	6.051	$267,096,236	2.855	11
7	Switzerland	$1,212,640,704	3.117	$24,526,648	0.262	42
8	Sweden	$1,186,839,956	3.051	$10,459,126	0.112	55
11	UK	$1,026,370,796	2.638	$74,676,634	0.798	27
13	Turkey	$856,210,090	2.201	$171,310,875	1.831	15
14	Netherlands	$841,015,029	2.162	$200,116,141	2.139	14
16	Belgium	$732,923,177	1.884	$74,004,859	0.791	28
17	Austria	$684,397,789	1.759	$9,954,074	0.106	56
20	Spain	$363,949,220	0.936	$128,495,507	1.374	19
24	Denmark	$248,363,639	0.638	$11,908,376	0.127	54
30	Finland	$147,904,213	0.38	$2,272,234	0.024	83
35	Poland	$100,503,343	0.258	$8,358,529	0.089	59
36	Romania	$96,762,178	0.249	$9,158,742	0.098	57
39	Cyprus	$91,593,120	0.235	$2,442,416	0.026	81
41	Ireland	$77,290,757	0.199	$1,391,859	0.015	93
43	Czech	$62,022,059	0.159	$1,254,840	0.013	96
	Total:	$17,940,674,285	46.115	$1,410,093,110	15.072

Iran and Europe's trade turnover has decreased dramatically since 2005, especially after the EU imposed tough sanctions over Iran's banking system, crude oil and petrochemical products exports.

Europe was the target of 18 percent of Iran's total oil exports in 2011, amounting to 480,000 barrels per day, but the EU stopped Iranian oil imports in mid-2012.

Year	Iran's exports to EU - Billion dollar	Share of total	Iran's total exports- Billion dollar	Iran's imports from EU- Billion dollar	Share of total	Iran's total imports- Billion dollar
2005	1.4	15%	9.35	18	49%	38.9
2007*	1.65	10%	15.29	17.27	35%	48.38
2013*	1.723	5.3	41.448	15.3	28.6	53.451
2014*	1.44	4.61	41.628	10.98	21.6	50.818

* Iran's fiscal year starts on March 20, the table covers March 20, 2005 to the March 20, 2014.

However, the latest monthly report released by the Custom Administration says that Iran's exports to the EU increased by 15 percent between March 20, 2014 and April 20, 2014, compared to the same period last year. However, Europe Union's exports to Iran decrease by 25 percent during the mentioned period.

During last Iran's fiscal year, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland exported $2.5 billion, $ 850 million, $ 250 million and $2.33 billion worth goods to Iran respectively.

Iran's exports to these country's ware totally about $660 million.

Iran imported about $500 million from the EU and exported $98 million to them during the mentioned period.

Dalga Khatinoglu is specialist on Iran's energy sector and Iran News Service head in Trend Agency