TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s Customs Administration spokesman Rouollah Latifi says in last Iranian calendar year, Iran exported 4.187 tons of goods worth $1.839b to Afghanistan which shows 40$ decline in terms of weight and 20$ in value comparing to the preceding year.
Speaking to ILNA, Latifi touched upon Iran’s trade exchanges with Afghanistan in the last Iranian calendar year which ended on March 20 and said Iran exported 4.187m tons of goods worth $1.839b last year which indicates 40% slump in terms of weight and 20% in terms of value comparing to the preceding year.
He then pointed to the amount of Iran’s imports from Afghanistan, saying that since the government has imposed ban on imports of goods whose likes are produced in the country, imports from Afghanistan were not significant but on the whole 17,000 tons of goods worth $19.5m have been imported from Afghanistan.
Latifi noted that in the preceding year, Iran’s imports from Afghanistan were around 6,000 tons worth of $4.173m. He drew conclusion that Iran’s imports from Afghanistan rose by 200% in weight and 300% in value.
On the reasons behind decline in exports to Afghanistan, he said the decline due to the current condition in Afghanistan is something natural because in months Afghanistan have faced crisis and exporters were concerned about future of exports to Afghanistan.
Latifi added that new regime in Afghanistan came to power and new laws and regulations were set for trade and several projects which had been financed by the government and international companies came to a halt or totally changed. Therefore consumption of construction materials in Afghanistan reduced and in such a condition it is natural that the export of construction materials decline, he added.
He said that by the way, ambiguity regarding the future of Afghanistan led to the slump in construction and some of activists in construction field have not resumed their activities.
He also pointed to the slump in the export of other items of consuming goods to Afghanistan, saying that in this period the sources of sustainable incomes in Afghanistan has completely changed and due to the closure of some businesses and earnings of the people, the public priority is the purchase of required and basic goods. So due to the sharp decline in purchase power, exports of unnecessary goods to Afghanistan from any country like Iran have declined, he noted.
Latifi reiterated that peace and stability in Afghanistan and economic boom in this country will be to the benefit of its neighboring countries especially Iran.
He went on to say that currently exports of some goods to Afghanistan have been normalized and with peace and stability, the trend of trade with Afghanistan will be normalized.
He reiterated that decrease od Iran’s exports to Afghanistan does not mean that other country has replaced it and it is just because of the decline in purchase power of Afghans. He expressed hope that with arrival of Iranian companies in projects in Afghanistan, the trade between the two states would be accelerated.
