Iran's Exports to the European Union Surge Again

Official statistics from the European Union indicate that exports from the 28 member states to Iran grew by nearly 30% last year, while Iran's exports to Europe increased by 4.5 times compared to the previous year. According to data published on the official website of the European Commission, the 28 member states exported a total of 8.25 billion euros to Iran last year, up from about 6.5 billion euros in 2015. European imports from Iran were approximately 5.5 billion euros, while the previous year's figure was only 1.24 billion dollars. Among Iran's European partners, Germany was the largest exporter to Iran with 2.6 billion dollars in exports last year, showing a growth of over 20% compared to 2015. However, Italy, the second-largest trading partner of Iran in Europe, reduced its exports to Iran to 1.5 billion dollars. Malta increased its exports to Iran sixfold, raising its sales volume to over one billion dollars, while Luxembourg's exports to Iran fell by more than four times to 352 million dollars. Among the countries receiving Iranian exports, France topped the list of the 28 EU member states with 1.35 billion dollars in imports. Iran's exports to France increased 44 times compared to the previous year, mainly due to the resumption of Iranian oil exports to the EU, with Total France currently being the largest customer for Iranian oil and gas condensates. Iran's exports to France were just over 30 million dollars the previous year. Before sanctions, Iran exported about 780,000 barrels of oil and gas condensates to the EU daily, but this figure was nearly zero from 2012 to 2015. After the implementation of the nuclear agreement in January last year, Iran resumed oil exports to Europe. Italy and Spain, as other customers of Iranian oil, have become the second and third largest importers of oil and goods from Iran, each more than doubling their imports. Italy imported over one billion dollars and Spain 870 million dollars from Iran last year. A significant point in the EU statistics is that before sanctions, the bilateral trade balance with Iran was over seven billion dollars in Iran's favor, but now EU exports to Iran exceed imports from Iran by about three billion dollars.