Italy was first among European importers of Iranian commodities importing over 678,000 tons of Iranian goods worth more than $385 million in the nine-month period, announced Iran’s customs office, IRNA reported.

It further said that 40 European countries imported Iranian goods valued at $1.856 billion.

In late November, Italian Ambassador to Iran Mauro Conciatori in a meeting with Hormuzgan Governor General Jassem Jadari in Bandar Abbas voiced Rome’s willingness to expand economic and industrial relations with Tehran.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi met in New York which was the fourth meeting in the past years, he pointed out. During the meeting the two sides underscored the need to double efforts to broaden relations, Conciatori said during the meeting.

He reiterated that Iran and Italy have deep familiarity about each other and have been in contact with each other through Silk Road which can pave the way for boosting ties between the two countries.

Conciatori pointed to the berthing of Italian warship in Bandar Abbas, and said, “The presence of the Italian warship shows the positive development in relations between the two countries.”

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The figure was €6.2 billion during January-October 2015, Tasnim news agency reported.

Iran’s exports to the EU stood at €3.9 billion from January to October 2016, quadrupling from €1 billion during the same time span in 2015.

Meanwhile, EU’s exports to Iran increased by 23 percent and reached €6.4 billion from €5.2 billion over the 10-month period.

In April 2016, Iran and the EU issued a joint statement in Tehran setting the road map for cooperation. The statement was released by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini who visited Iran along with seven European commissioners.

The two sides taking stock of their long standing relations, based upon mutual respect and interests, reiterated their intention to develop a broad and comprehensive agenda for bilateral cooperation.

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According to a timetable published by Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, a five-percent export duty will be imposed on iron ore export once approved by the government and this duty will be gradually increased to 10 percent from March 2017 and 15 percent of the cargo FOB value from March 21, 2018, a mining source told S&P Global Platts.

As a result of disagreements among private sector miners, this timetable has not been notified yet while exporters are making efforts to ship as much iron ore as possible before the start of the next Iranian year in March.

Also, the duty may not become effective at all because the cash flow from iron ore exports is essential for Iranian mining, both for private miners and semi-governmental iron ore producers.

About 34 percent of 7.09 million tons of concentrated iron ore produced by Gol-e Gohar, Iran’s largest iron ore miner, have been exported in the nine-month period, representing more than 30 percent of the company’s total income.

“In the future, we may need to import a part of the country’s iron ore, but at present there is an overcapacity both in iron ore and concentrated iron ore production compared with the [consumption in] steel industry,” a Tehran-based iron ore trader told Platts.

Iran’s iron ore production is estimated at 48 million tons in 2016, including five million tons from small privately-owned miners, according to Iran’s Iron Ore Producers and Exporters Association. That total is eight percent lower than the record 2013 production.

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Figures released by the Customs Administration of Iran show that non-oil exports over the period reached as high as $31.59 billion – an increase of 9.5 percent compared to the same period last year.

Imports also stood at $31.53 billion, showing an increase of 4.3 percent year-on-year. Nevertheless, a comparison of the two figures showed that Iran’s trade surplus was positive, a statement by the Customs Administration of Iran showed.

Gas condensate comprised the majority of Iran’s non-oil exports over the period at 16.2 percent with a collective value of $5.12 billion.

The main export destinations of Iran over a period of nine months of 2016 were China ($5.69 billion), the UAE ($5.50 billion), Turkey ($2.71 billion) and South Korea ($2.33 billion).

Next top exported items were liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and light industrial oil each with a share of 6.18 percent and 3.89 percent and the net value of $1.95 billion and $1.23 billion, respectively.

The main export destinations of Iran were China ($5.69 billion), the UAE ($5.50 billion), Turkey ($2.71 billion) and South Korea ($2.33 billion), the statement added.

Also, figures show that a majority of the imports were carried out from China ($7.51 billion), the UAE ($5.10 billion), South Korea ($2.50 billion) and Turkey ($2.18 billion).

Iran’s Customs Administration further emphasized that imports from the above countries had seen moderate declines.

There was only a significant rise in imports from Germany. Imports from Germany over the same period had seen an increase of 38.22 percent with a total value of $1.78 billion, the statement concluded.

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