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Sharing its eastern borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran shipped US$15.6 billion worth of exported products around the globe in 2022.
That estimated dollar metric results from an -83.9% drop compared to $96.6 billion five years earlier in 2018.
Year over year, the total value of Iranian exports fell -62% from $75.1 billion during 2018.
Iran’s 5 top export products are ethylene polymers, acyclic alcohols, refined copper and alloys, unwrought aluminum and petroleum gases. Combined, Iran’s 5 major exports represent over two-fifths (43.2%) of the total dollar sales for all products exported from Iran in 2022.
Iran’s Most Valuable Trading Partners
Our calculations based on the latest available country-specific data shows that 89.8% of products exported from Iran were bought by importers in: mainland China (37.1% of the Iranian total), Iraq (16.5%), Türkiye (11.3%), United Arab Emirates (9.1%), Afghanistan (3.4%), India (also 3.4%), Pakistan (2.3%), Indonesia (2%), Thailand (1.5%), Oman (1.3%), Russia (1.1%) and Uzbekistan (0.7%).
From a continental perspective, 93.1% of Iran’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 3.1% was sold to importers in Europe. Iran shipped another 2.2% worth of goods to Africa.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in Latin America (1.5%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, North America (0.05%), then Oceania mostly Australia and New Zealand (0.04%).
Given Iran’s population of 85.6 million people, its total $15.6 billion worth of exports in 2022 translates to roughly $180 for every resident in the Middle Eastern country. That per capita metric fall well below the average $500 for one year earlier in 2021.
Iran’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Iranian global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Iran.
Plastics, plastic articles: US$3.5 billion (22.5% of total exports)
Mineral fuels including oil: $1.8 billion (11.7%)
Organic chemicals: $1.5 billion (9.5%)
Copper: $1.4 billion (8.8%)
Iron, steel: $1.1 billion (7.2%)
Aluminum: $1 billion (6.5%)
Fruits, nuts: $785.4 million (5%)
Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $465.2 million (3%)
Ores, slag, ash: $420.6 million (2.7%)
Zinc: $386.3 million (2.5%)
Iran’s top 10 exports accounted for 79.3% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Aluminum was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 180.8% from 2021 to 2022.
In second place for improving export sales was copper via a 56% advance.
Iran’s shipments under the ores, slag and ash product category posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 44.6%.
The leading decliner among Iran’s top 10 export categories was mineral fuels including oil, pulled down by an -89.1% year over year reduction. The severest drops were recorded by Iranian exports for crude oil, petroleum gases and petroleum coke.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, ethylene polymers represent Iran’s most valuable exported product at 19.1% of the country’s total. In second place were acyclic alcohols (7.1%), refined copper and unwrought alloys (6.7%), unwrought aluminum (6%), petroleum gases (4.2%), crude oil (3.6%), miscellaneous nuts (2.6%), iron ores or concentrates (2.4%), unwrought zinc (2.4%), then semi-finished iron or non-alloy steel products (also 2.4%).
Products Generating Biggest Trade Surpluses for Iran
The following types of Iranian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
Plastics, plastic articles: US$2.7 billion (Down by -44.8% since 2021)
Mineral fuels including oil: $1.6 billion (Down by -95.8%)
Copper: $1.3 billion (Down by -33.8%)
Aluminum: $890.7 million (Up by 90.3%)
Organic chemicals: $808.6 million (Down by -66.3%)
Iron, steel: $791 million (Down by -87.3%)
Fruits, nuts: $573.4 million (Down by -69.4%)
Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $421.7 million (Down by -22.9%)
Zinc: $385.8 million (Down by -29.3%)
Ores, slag, ash: $333.8 million (Down by -27.6%)
Iran has highly positive net exports in the international trade of plastics, both as materials and items made from plastic. In turn, these cashflows indicate Iran’s strong competitive advantages under the plastics and plastic articles product category.
Products Causing Worst Trade Deficits for Iran
Iran incurred an estimated -$11.4 billion trade deficit in 2022, reversing a $22.2 billion surplus one year earlier in 2019.
Below are exports from Iran that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Iran’s goods trail Iranian importer spending on foreign products.
Cereals: -US$4.5 billion (Down by -41.5% since 2021)
Machinery including computers: -$3.6 billion (Down by -43.2%)
Vehicles: -$2.1 billion (Up by 9.7%)
Electrical machinery, equipment: -$1.9 billion (Down by -74.2%)
Oil seeds: -$1.8 billion (Up by 1.2%)
Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$1 billion (Down by -61.8%)
Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$844.8 million (Down by -41.6%)
Pharmaceuticals: -$748.3 million (Down by -58.9%)
Sugar, sugar confectionery: -$455.4 million (Up by 7.8%)
Articles of iron or steel: -$359.9 million (Up by 1339.5%)
Iran has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits notably for corn, rice and wheat under the cereals product category.
Iranian Export Companies
According to global trade intelligence firm Zepol, the following companies are examples of diverse exporters from Iran.
In macroeconomic terms, Iran’s total exported goods represent 1% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($1.597 trillion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 1% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 falls below the 3.1% for 2021, suggesting a lesser dependence on exports for Iran’s overall economic performance.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Iran’s unemployment rate averaged 9.537% for 2022, up from an average 9.175% one year earlier in 201 according to statistics from Trading Economics.
Iran’s capital city is Tehran.
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