Iran and 27 members of the European Union traded €2.25 billion worth of goods during the first six months of 2021, to post a 0.37% growth compared with the previous year's corresponding period.
Iran's trade with European states declined by 2.76% in June to €401.2 million.
Figures extracted from Eurostat's datasets show Germany remained the top trading partner of Iran during H1, as the two countries exchanged €894.51 million worth of goods, 4.23% less than the corresponding period of the year before.
Italy came next with €303.04 million worth of trade with Iran. A year-on-year comparison of the figures indicates a 6.55% decline in trade between Iran and Italy.
The Netherlands with €232.44 million (down 1.74%), Spain with €154.7 million (up 16.39%) and Belgium with €113.76 million (up 3.23%) were Iran's other major European trading partners.
Malta registered the highest growth of 8862.26% in trade with Iran. Estonia with 754.58%, Romania with 308.2% and Croatia with 161.76% came next.
Eurostat is a directorate of the European Commission located in Luxembourg. Its main responsibilities are to provide statistical information to EU institutions and promote the harmonization of statistical methods across its member states and candidates for accession.
Organizations in different countries that cooperate with Eurostat are summarized in the European Statistical System.
Iran exported €406.98 million worth of commodities to the EU in H1, indicating a 17.03% growth compared with the similar period of previous year.
Germany with €140 million, Italy with €84 million, Spain with €41 million, Romania with €31 million and Bulgaria with €21 million were the main export destinations.
The country exported €74.35 million worth of goods to EU partners in June, up 4.75%.
The main export destinations over the period were Germany (€23.57 million), Italy (€12.31 million), Romania (€9.19 million) and Spain (€6.48 million).
The exported goods mainly included edible fruit and nuts; fruit zest; mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes; plastics and articles thereof; pharmaceutical products; coffee, tea, mate and spices; products of animal origin, not elsewhere specified or included; iron and steel; organic chemicals; carpets and other textile floor coverings.
Iran’s imports from the EU member states declined by 2.68% to €1.83 billion in H1. Germany accounted for the largest share of exports worth €754.32 million to Iran, down 5.96%, followed by Italy (€218.71 million), Netherlands (€216.77 million), Romania (€114.35 million) and Spain (€113.99 million).
The imports included nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, parts thereof; pharmaceutical products; optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus, parts and accessories thereof; and cereals.
Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; and sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles; organic chemicals; miscellaneous chemical products; oilseeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit; industrial or medicinal plants; plastics and articles thereof; essential oils and resinoids; perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations constituted other imported products.
Imports from the green continent declined by 4.32% to €326.88 million during the sixth month of the year.
Trade between Iran and 27 EU member states in 2020 stood at €4.24 billion to register a 13.35% decline compared with €4.89 billion in 2019.
Iran exported €618.03 million worth of commodities to the EU last year, indicating a 7.18% fall compared with €665.8 million in 2019. Its imports from EU dropped by 14.32% to stand at €3.62 billion during 2020.
Trade between Iran and the EU gained momentum after the nuclear deal Tehran signed with world powers in 2015. The deal known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action saw years of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic lifted. In exchange, the country agreed to limit the scope of its nuclear program. JCPOA was implemented in 2016.
In 2018, Washington unilaterally quit JCPOA that it had signed with six other countries in 2015. The US then reimposed sanctions against Tehran, leading to a decline in Iran’s trade with other countries, including the EU.
The new US government led by Joe Biden has sought to renegotiate since April to revive the nuclear deal that will see international sanctions on Iran lifted. The last round of talks took place on June 20, before Ebrahim Raisi was sworn in as Iranian president on Aug. 5.