Iran Exports to Syria Hit $73m in 7 Months
IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK
TEHRAN – Director General of the Arab-African States Department at Iran Trade Promotion Organization Farzad Piltan says the latest statistics released by Iran Customs Administration show that Iran’s exports to Syria have been around $73m in the first seven months of the current year while its imports from this Arab states have been around $10b in the same period.
Piltan said after the start of the political, security conflicts and violence in Syria, the trade volume between Iran and Syria nosedived and the volume fell to $105m in 2018. He added that Iran and Syria’s trade volume was around $550m in 2010 as Iran’s exports to Syria were around $520m while Syria’s exports to Iran stood at $30m.
He went on to say that despite the negative trend in the bilateral trade, their bilateral trade began growing once again and it bounced back to $170m last year as Iran’s exports were $160m and Syria’s share was $10m.
He noted that auto-parts, medicines, iron and steel bar, pipe and profile, gas turbine parts, powder milk for babies, pistachio, sanitary valves, sodium carbonate and yeasts have been the major exported items of Iran to Syria this year while Iran’s imports from Syria have been olive oil, fabric, fruit kernels and plants.
Piltan noted that in the field of exports of technical and engineering services to Syria, Iranian companies have exported services worth of $2.2b between 2008 and 2018.
Launching auto production line, building power sub-stations, water treatment plants, construction of bridges, construction of power plants, cement plants, designing and installing transformers, construction of flour plant and implementing water equipment have been of the major technical and engineering services which have been exported to Syria by Iranian companies, he noted.
Piltan also pointed to some economic indexes of Syria and opportunities and challenges in front of Iran’s exports to Syria, adding that Syria is a country with population about 18m people that 90 percent of them are Muslims. He reiterated that agriculture accounts for 20 percent of Syrian economy and its GDP, and services account for 20 percent of its economy.
He said that last year’s statistics were affected by the civil conflicts and the country’s GDP stood at $50b, and its GDP growth rate was minus 36 percent with an inflation rate of 25 percent and an unemployment rate of about 50 percent.
Piltan stated that Lebanon, Jordan, China, Turkey, Iraq and Tunisia have been the major trade partner of Syria in terms of exports to this country while Russia, Turkey and China were the major export destinations of Syria in 2019.
He said that Syria’s exports were valued at $309m and its imports have been around $4.3b in the same period.
He said coffee, tea, fruits and dried fruits, soap, detergents, dairy products, honey, cement and garment have been of the major exporting items of Syria.
Piltan reiterated that although the trend of trade cooperation between Iran and Syria has grown downtrend after the civil unrests, the damages on the infrastructures of Syria during the conflicts have caused a new opportunity for resumption of activities of Iranian technical and engineering companies for exports of their products to Syria.
