Figures by the European Union’s statistics agency (Eurostat) show trade between members of the bloc and Iran rose by more than a third year on year in the four months to April.
Eurostat figures covered in a Monday report by Iran’s official IRNA news agency showed that the value of Iran-EU trade had reached $1.672 billion in January-April, up 37% from the similar period last year.
The figures showed that EU’s imports from Iran rose 37% over the same period to reach $362 million.
Iran’s imports from the EU were up 10% year on year in January-April as the country took delivery of $1.31 billion worth of goods from the bloc, showed the figures.
The surge in Iranian trade with the EU comes despite a series of American sanctions that restrict economic exchanges between Iran and the West.
Iran has defied the bans which mostly target the country’s sales of crude and energy products by relying more on the non-oil sector of the economy.
Iranian trade with the EU reached a total of $4.865 billion in 2021. The figure is responsible for less than 5% of Iran’s annual trade with the rest of the world.
The IRNA report said Germany was Iran’s largest trading partner in EU over the four months to April, adding that trade between the two countries had reached $640 million over the period, up 10% year on year.
The report said Iran’s imports from Germany rose 9% year on year in January-April to $531 million while exports to Germany were up 16% to $109 million over the same period.