ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq was the largest importer of Iranian products since March 2021, importing $8.9 billion worth of goods, marking a 21 percent increase in Iranian exports to Iraq in comparison to last year, Iran’s director general of customs said on Tuesday.
Alireza Moqaddasi told the country’s state media that during the last Persian year, from March 2021 until March 2022, “100 million and 131 thousand tons of goods worth 51 billion and 875 million dollars in 1400 [last Persian year] were exchanged between Iran and 15 neighboring countries, of which 75 million and 445 thousand tons worth 26 billion and 29 million dollars [were] Iran's share of exports to these countries.”
Of those countries, Iraq comes top of the list in importing Iranian goods with $8.9 billion, giving the country’s imports from its neighbor a 21 percent increase compared to the year before.
Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the UAE followed Iraq on the list of top five importers of Iranian goods. In total, Iran’s trade with its 15 neighboring countries saw a 23 percent rise in weight and a 43 percent increase in the cost of these goods as compared to the year before.
Iraq’s main purchases from Iran are agricultural products, engineering services, construction materials, and energy, such as electricity and natural gas. Baghdad has received waivers from Washington allowing it to buy Iranian electricity and natural gas.
In 2021, Iran said they had exported $11 billion worth of food and agricultural products to Iraq in five years. In 2019, Iraq accounted for around $9 billion of Iran’s $12.5 billion in exports.
Iraq also exported to Iran on a larger scale over the year. According to Moqaddasi, Iraq exported $1.2 billion worth of goods to Iran, marking a 790 percent increase on Iranian imports from Iraq.
The devastating economic impact of the coronavirus dealt a significant blow to trade volume between Iraq and Iran in 2020.
As cases of the infection began to seep into Iraq - many of which among people who had returned from Iran - Baghdad began restricting travel, shutting its five main border crossings with its eastern neighbor in mid-March 2020.
The Kurdistan Region did not follow Baghdad's lead, keeping all three of its major border crossings open. At times, the Region closed the border crossings to tourists, though trade continued normally.
