Clearly, these figures indicate the positive impacts of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Iran and the P5+1 in July 2015, which have led to an improvement in the country's trade balance and the greater prosperity of the domestic economy.
Iran's increased exports and trade transactions with Europe was the country's top economic news last week. Given the importance of the issue, Iranian economic newspapers analyzed the level and condition of Iran’s exports and rising foreign trade.
In the past few decades, Iran's economic relations with the EU have been subject to a great deal of ups and downs. However, what has always constantly refrained from undergoing any change has been the country’s negative trade balance in its transactions with this part of the world, which of course, demonstrated relative improvement in 2017.
According to a report by Eurostat, a news agency affiliated to the European Commission, the growth witnessed in the EU's imports from Iran in 2017, exceeded that of the Eurozone's exports to the Middle Eastern state. This comes as the trade balance between the two sides is still €600 million in favor of the EU.
The report added that Iran's trade with the 28 member states of the EU in 2017 reflected a growing trend standing at €21 billion posting a 53-percent growth year-on-year.
The year 2017 marked the second 12-month period since the implementation of the JCPOA in January 2016. In 2016, trade between Iran and the EU had reached €13.74 billion indicating a 78-percent growth compared to the figure for the preceding year.
The EU's imports from Iran in 2017, however, experienced an 85-percent increase compared to the amount for 2016 to stand at €10.2 billion. In 2016, European states had purchased goods worth €5.5 billion from Iran. The overseas sales of mineral fuels has been the dominant factor in the growth in Iran's goods exports to Europe.
An analysis of trade transactions between Iran and the EU during the past two years also confirms the growing trend in the two sides' economic relations. In 2015, this figure stood at €7.68 billion in 2015 but reached €13.74 billion and €21 billion in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
The EU's imports from Iran in 2016 grew 5.4 percent compared to a year before that to stand at €4.49 billion. In 2015, the EU had imported goods worth €1.23 billion from the Islamic Republic. The removal of Western sanctions on Iran's oil exports which was followed by the EU's resumption of oil purchases from the country was the main reason for the rise in the eurozone's imports from the Islamic Republic in 2016.
The Eurostat report said France was the biggest importer of Iranian products in 2016. Its imports from the Middle Eastern state witnessed a twofold growth compared to the figure for 2015 to reach €1.35 billion. France was followed by Italy and Spain which purchased products valued at €1.49 billion and €870 million, respectively, from Iran in 2016.
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