New government statistics by Iran’s regime indicate a negative imbalance of $16.8 billion in non-oil trade during the year 2023.
According to customs statistics, Iran had about $49.4 billion in non-oil exports last year, which is seven percent less than 2022.
The country’s imports were $64.3 billion, which is seven percent more than 2022. Iran also imported $1.9 billion worth of standard gold.
In recent months, Iran’s customs administration has added statistics on oil, electricity, and services exports to its export figures for the first time to show a positive foreign trade balance, but it does not include these figures in its calculations of imports.
Oil exports:
Customs statistics show that Iran’s oil exports last year amounted to $35.9 billion, which is 8.6 percent higher than in 2022.
International statistics, including those from data companies such as Kpler, indicate that Iran had 1.3 million barrels of crude oil exports per day last year, which is 48 percent higher than in 2022. The price of oil had also dropped by only 17 percent in global markets.
It is unclear why, given the mentioned figures, the value of Iran’s crude oil exports has only grown by 8.6 percent.
Additionally, Iran had daily exports of 220,000 barrels of Mazut last year, and in total, Iran’s oil exports should have been about $44 billion. However, customs statistics put this figure at $35.9 billion.
Iran also had diesel and gasoline imports last year, but this is not accounted for in customs calculations.
Services trade:
Customs statistics show that Iran had $1.3 billion in exports of “technical and engineering services” last year. This report does not refer to the total volume of service exports, including transit and imports of services into the country.
According to Central Bank statistics, Iran’s total volume of service imports in recent years has been about $15 billion annually, with the country’s service exports being half of this figure.
Iran’s customs has not specified why it includes exports of oil, electricity, and services in its statistics, but does not include imports of these items in foreign trade calculations.
Iran has also faced extensive capital flight, especially in recent years. Government institutions have not released last year’s statistics, but Central Bank statistics show that Iran had about $9.3 billion in capital flight in 2022.
The worsening foreign trade balance has led to a rapid depreciation of the rial’s value over the past few months.
On Saturday, April 6th, the US dollar is traded at 646,500 rials in the free market. Iran’s rial has lost 18 percent of its value compared to March 2023 and about 31 percent compared to April 2023.
