TEHRAN — The head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), Alireza Peyman-Pak, has said the value of the country’s non-oil exports is expected to reach $45 billion in the current Iranian calendar year ( ending March 20), the IRIB reported.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Peyman-Pak highlighted the achievement of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade’s goal of increasing the country’s non-oil exports by $5 billion in during the second half of the current Iranian calendar year (September 23, 2021-March 20, 2022) and noted that the mentioned target has been achieved earlier than expected.
According to the official, the Ministry of Industry has targeted another $5 billion increase for the country’s non-oil exports in the next Iranian calendar year.
“We expect to increase the total value of non-oil exports to $50 billion. [in the next year]however, this amount is also not commensurate with the country’s export capacities and we will continue to work to increase this figure,” he said.
Peyman-Pak pointed to increasing export incentives and the number of commercial attachés in target markets as other measures to be taken by the Trade Promotion Organization to increase non-oil exports.
The TPO chief further referred to the President’s recent visit to Russia and said, “We have planned to increase our non-oil exports to Russia to $7.5 billion by [the Iranian calendar year] 1404 (begins March 2025).”
Russia imports between $250 billion and $300 billion in raw materials a year, of which our share has always been less than $500 million, the official regretted, adding: “This year we plan to increase this figure to 750 million. of dollars”.
According to Peyman-Pak, taking into account Russia’s imports in various fields, including the import of $8 billion in agricultural products, $44 billion in foodstuffs, $1.5 billion in industrial equipment in addition to other imports like tiles, ceramics, cement, petrochemicals, bags, shoes and textiles, Iran can easily meet the target of $7.5 billion in exports to the Russia.
Return export revenue increased by 10-15%
Elsewhere in his remarks, Peyman-Pak highlighted the facilitation of the process of re-injecting export earnings into the country’s economic system, and noted: “In the last quarter, with the diversification of foreign exchange return channels and foreign exchange and trade policies, the rate of return of export earnings increased from 15 to 10 percent.
During these few months, we have tried to accelerate the trend of export growth by facilitating the process of returning export earnings and supporting exporters, while moving towards exporting goods that have a better competitive advantage and more added value.
He noted that various measures have been taken during this period to improve the trade balance and increase non-oil exports, including the special attention paid by senior officials to export and trade issues by examining the problems of traders and resolving challenges by arranging various meetings with other officials and with traders.
“We have tried to make decisions in coordination with representatives of chambers of commerce, guilds, cooperatives, unions and associations, and this process, while creating empathy with exporters, has also had an effect positive on the country’s external trade balance,” he said.
Exports to Turkey and Afghanistan on the rise
Referring to the Ministry of Industry and TPO’s plans to increase exports to neighboring countries, Peyman-Pak said: “Despite the challenges in the two markets of Afghanistan and Turkey, with the monitoring and cooperation between the government and exporters, exports accelerated. months, and we expect this upward trend to continue.
He also referred to the TPO’s programs for diversification of export methods, saying that 620 barter cases were sent to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI).
EF/MA
