The Islamic Republic of Iran’s government claims that its economic dealings with African countries have totaled 1.2 billion dollars over the last two years. This was announced on Sunday via the company’s official X page.
The Iranian government revealed that non-oil exports represented the majority of Iran-Africa trade.
This comes amid rumours of Iran’s ambitious drive to dominate the Nigerian market. Non-oil exports are items and commodities that do not contain crude oil or minerals.
The Iranian government tweeted: “The spokesperson for the Trade Development Commission added: In the last two years, we have seen a quorum of 54.4 billion dollars in non-oil exports, which is unprecedented in the country’s history.
“He stated: During the mentioned two years, trade exchanges between Iran and Africa reached one billion and 200 million dollars.”
The Tehran Times says that Iran shipped non-oil commodities worth $46.5 million to Nigeria in the first seven months of 2023. Ruhollah Latifi, spokesman for Iran’s Trade Development Committee in the House of Industry, Mining, and Trade, noted that Nigeria was the country’s fourth export destination of Iranian products and the 15th source of imports.
According to OEC data, Iran’s biggest exports to Nigeria include non-fillet fresh fish, non-fillet frozen fish, and plastic items, among others.
The Iranian official also announced that, as part of its trade deals with Nigeria, Iran will import 38,122 tonnes of commodities from Africa worth $47.434 million in 2023.
In June 2022, Iran’s Trade Minister, Seyyed Reza Fatemi Amin, informed his Nigerian counterpart, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada, that the value of bilateral trade between Iran and Nigeria increased by 300% that year.
“The value of trade between Iran and Nigeria reached about 125 million dollars, witnessing a 300% growth in the last 9 months of the year 1400,” the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) cited Amin as saying in a statement posted on its website.
Iran appears to be targeting the Nigerian market because it is Africa’s largest market, with a population of more than 200 million.
The country is attempting to topple other countries that already pride themselves on being Nigeria’s largest trade partners.
According to a report from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s top five export destinations in Q4, 2023 were the Netherlands (N1,910.47 billion or 15.05%), India (N1,101.47 billion or 8.68%), Spain (N1,030.09 billion or 8.11%), Canada (N907.64 billion or 7.15%), and France (N799.77 billion or 6.30% of total exports).
