Baku, Azerbaijan, April 24
By Trend:
The Islamic Republic’s official statistics indicate that Iran is gradually increasing its share from African markets.
Farzad Piltan, an official with Iran's Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), said that the country’s exports to Africa has increased by 23 percent, the press office of the TPO reported.
Piltan said that Iran’s non-oil exports to Africa accounted to $752 million in the last fiscal year, ended March 20, 2018, compared to $608 million worth of exports in the preceding year.
He further said that Egypt was the main destination of Iranian goods in Africa during the period, followed by Kenya, Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Somalia, Djibouti, Morocco and Nigeria.
According to Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Iran exported 754,775 tons of goods to Egypt, worth $257.5 million in the last fiscal year, which is 23.7 and 15.8 percent more in terms of value and volume respectively, year-on-year.
Butane, steel products, bitumen, liquid propane, methanol and cement formed the most important exports of Iran to Africa in the last fiscal year.
The Islamic Republic plans to annually add 20 percent to the country’s exports to Africa. Iranian officials are dissatisfied with the level of banking cooperation between Iran and African countries and see that as an obstacle in boosting trade ties.
Iran’s non-oil exports accounted to $47 billion in the 12-month period based on the early estimates.
Meanwhile the country imported $54 billion worth of various goods in the last fiscal year, which is $10 billion more compared to the preceding year.
