Iran-Africa trade reaches $1.2 billion over 2 years, spotting Nigerian market

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has said its trade deals with African countries hit 1.2 billion dollars in the last two years.

This was disclosed via its official X page on Sunday.

The Iranian government revealed that non-oil exports constituted a bulk of the Iran-Africa trade.

This is amid reports showing Iran’s bold move towards being on top of the Nigerian market.

Non-oil exports are products and commodities that are not crude oil nor minerals.

The Iran government tweeted, “The spokesperson Trade Development Commission added: In the last two years, we witnessed a quorum of 54.4 billion dollars in non-oil exports, which is unprecedented in the history of the country.

“He stated: During the mentioned two years, trade exchanges between Iran and Africa reached one billion and 200 million dollars.”

Amid the development, the Tehran Times reports that Iran exported non-oil commodities valued at $46.5 million to Nigeria during the first seven months of 2023.

The spokesman of the Trade Development Committee of Iran’s House of Industry, Mining and Trade, Ruhollah Latifi, had stated that among the country’s African trade partners, Nigeria was the fourth export destination of Iranian products and the 15th source of import to the country.

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The main products Iran exported to Nigeria are non-fillet fresh fish non-fillet frozen Fish, and plastic products among others, according to data for OEC.

The Iran official had also revealed that amid its trade deals with Nigeria, Iran imported 38,122 tons of goods valued at $47.434 million from Africa, in 2023.

In June 2022, the Iranian Trade Minister, Seyyed Reza Fatemi Amin told his Nigerian counterpart, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada, that the value of bilateral trade between Iran and Nigeria witnessed a 300% growth same 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) quoted Amin as saying, in a statement published on its website.

Dada was quoted as saying Nigeria attaches great importance to its relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, because there are good potentials and capacities that if used, can serve the interests of both countries.

Iran is apparently targeting the Nigerian market because of its position as the largest market in Africa with a population of over 200 million.

The country is trying to unseat other countries which are already priding themselves as Nigeria’s biggest 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 with N1,910.47 billion or 15.05%, India with N1,101.47 billion or 8.68%, Spain with N1,030.09 billion or 8.11%, Canada with N907.64 billion or 7.15%, France with N799.77 billion or 6.30% of total exports.

In terms of Imports (CIF), the country’s top five trading partners were Singapore with goods valued at N5,092.36 billion or 36.09%, China with N2,060.59 billion or 14.61%, Belgium with N1,140.97 billion or 8.09%, India with N908.59 billion or 6.44% and the United States of America with goods valued at N512.99 billion or 3.64%.