MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Iran trade with Latinamerica remained stable at 4bn dollars in 2012, says Latinvex

Iran exports to Mexico jumped 123.9 million dollars in 2011

Iran's trade with Argentina grew last year while trade with Brazil declined, according to an analysis by online business publication Latinvex based on data from the IMF. Iran's total trade with Latin America grew by 0.9% to 4 billion dollars in 2012. Brazil and Argentina still dominate Iran's trade with Latin America, accounting for 93% of the region's total trade with the Persian country.

Iran's trade with Latin America also continues to be dominated by imports from the region, especially Brazil and Argentina.

Iran's imports from Latin America fell 2.4% to 3.8 billion, while exports to the region jumped 178.1% to 200.5 million. As a result, Iran's trade deficit with Latin America declined 5.8% to 3.6 billion. 

Argentina's trade grew by 138.6 million, or 11.5%, to 1.3 billion. That was the highest growth in real terms. Argentina's exports to Iran increased 11.5% to 1.3 billion, while Iran's exports to Argentina expanded by 9.4% to 16.8 million.

Argentina is Iran's second-largest trade partner in Latin America and the second-largest Latin American exporter to Iran.

Argentina and Iran have improved political relations recently despite Iran's alleged role in the 1994 bombings of the AMIA Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires. Argentine special prosecutor Alberto Nisman in 1996 formally accused Iran of plotting the attack.

Iran's trade with Brazil, its top trade partner in Latin America, fell 6.7% last year to 2.4 billion. Brazil's exports to Iran declined 6.4% to 2.4 billion, while Iran's own exports to Brazil declined 32.7% to 23.7 million.

Thanks to a strong increase in trade with Mexico, that country now ranks as the third-largest Iranian trade partner in Latin America. It also ranks Iran's top market in Latin America. Mexico's Iran trade reached 133.8 million last year compared to only 9.97 million in 2011. That represents a 123.9 million increase. The change was due to a jump in Iran's exports to Mexico, which went from 2.5 million in 2011 to 127.6 million last year.

Iran's official trade with Venezuela, its closest political ally in Latin America, still remains low. It reached 10.4 million last year, a 6.2% increase from 2011, according to the Latinvex analysis.