Iran’s 15 neighboring countries were the destination of 89% of the country’s agricultural and food exports in terms of tonnage during the last Iranian year (March 2021-22), according to a customs expert.
“Iraq alone accounted for 37% of Iran’s total exports,” Rouhollah Latifi was also quoted as saying by IRIB News.
He added that more than 65% of Iran’s imports are agrifood products.
Neighbors imported 7.602 million tons from Iran’s total 8.528 million tons of agrifood exports last year.
Iraq was the biggest importer with 3.238 million tons. Among neighboring countries, Iraq was followed by the UAE with 1.74 million tons, Afghanistan with 832,000 tons, Turkey with 269,000 tons, Azerbaijan with 207,000 tons, Armenia with 81,000 tons, Turkmenistan with 203,000 tons, Russia with 634,000 tons, Pakistan with 507,000 tons, Qatar with 190,000 tons, Oman with 171,000 tons, Kazakhstan with 120,000 tons, Kuwait with 73,000 tons and Bahrain with 3,122 tons. Exports to Saudi Arabia were insignificant.
According to the Agriculture Ministry, Iran exported 8.48 million tons of agricultural and food products worth $5.23 billion in the fiscal 2021-22.
The figures indicate 4.06% decline in tonnage and a 15.84% fall in value year-on-year.
Pistachio topped the list of exports in terms of value with $914.43 million.
Tomato was the second major agricultural export product in terms of value with $384.49 million, followed by dates with $305.23 million, apple with $278.95 million and watermelon with $208.58 million.
In terms of tonnage, apple topped the list with 985,440 tons, watermelon with 902,100 tons, followed by tomato with 824,660 tons, potato with 600,860 tons and onion with 372,690 tons.