“Iran's foreign trade during this period, while maintaining the growth of exports, reached $45 billion, which compared to the same period last year showed a 47 percent growth,” said Mehdi Mirasharfi, director general of customs, state media reported.
Of that, $3.8 billion went to Iraq, he added.
Iraq is the second-largest importer of Iranian products. It follows China, which predominantly imports petrochemicals from the Islamic Republic. Iraq’s main purchases from Iran are agricultural products, engineering services, construction materials, and energy, such as electricity and natural gas. Earlier this year, Iran said they had exported $11 billion worth of food and agricultural products to Iraq in five years.
Iran’s economy and trade have shrunk drastically under United States sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, Iraq accounted for around $9 billion of Iran’s $12.5 billion of exports and the following year it imported $7.3 billion from its neighbor.
Iraq has received waivers from Washington allowing it to buy electricity and natural gas from Iran.
Travel and trade between the neighbours was hit by the coronavirus. Iran fast became the regional epicenter and one of the world’s worst-hit countries by the pandemic after recording its first case in Qom in February of last year. As cases of infection began to seep into Iraq - many of which were people who had returned from Iran - Baghdad began restricting travel, shutting its five main border crossings with its eastern neighbor in mid-March 2020.
The Kurdistan Region at times closed its border to tourists, though trade continued normally.
