Iran Customs Statistics for Four Months: Significant Decrease in Imports

Iran's customs reported a significant decrease in the country's imports in its latest monthly report covering the first four months of the year, indicating that non-oil exports have now surpassed imports. The 201-page report published on Saturday, August 10, shows that Iran's imports in the first four months of the year amounted to $13.882 billion, reflecting a decrease of over 20% compared to the same period last year. Non-oil exports also decreased by more than 15%, reaching $14 billion. The main reason for the decline in imports is the drop in agricultural product imports, which have consistently topped the list of imported items in recent years and still maintain their position among the top 10 imported goods. In the past four months, Iran imported $430 million worth of animal feed wheat, a nearly 10% decrease, making it the top import item. Rice is in second place, with a 58% reduction in imports, and soybean meal is the third major imported product, which has seen a decline of over 26%. Following these, machinery and passenger car parts have seen an overall doubling in imports. Imports of wheat for human consumption have also decreased by over 70%, while barley imports have increased by 82%. Meanwhile, Iran has halved its car imports to about $350 million, although car exports have also dropped by more than 50% to about $92 million. The main reason for the decline in exports is a 40% drop in gas condensate exports. Gas condensates are a type of expensive crude oil produced from gas wells and are known in international markets as 'super light oil'; however, Iran's customs categorizes this oil in the non-oil export basket. Gas condensates account for 22% of Iran's total non-oil exports. The 15% decrease in exports comes despite President Hassan Rouhani announcing in his Nowruz message that one of the government's plans for this year was to increase non-oil exports. According to a report from the government's information base, Mojtaba Khosrotaj, Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry, and Mine, also announced in April that a 'minimum 20% growth in non-oil exports for the year 94 has been targeted.' Meanwhile, aside from the decline in gas condensate exports, petrochemical products, which constitute a quarter of the total non-oil exports, have remained relatively stable, and exports of other goods have also seen a decline of about 7%. 93% of Iran's non-oil export destinations are in Asian countries, and 78% of the country's imports also come from this continent.