Turkey's gold jewelry exports to Iran see sharp rises

Turkey?s gold jewelry exports to Iran rose sharply from around $1.83 million in the first half of 2014 to $453 million in the same period this year, according to data compiled by the Turkish Statistics Agency (TÜ?K). 

Total exports from Turkey to Iran rose by 30.4 percent in the first six months of this year to $1.8 billion compared to the same period last year. Gold jewelry exports totaled around 24 percent of overall exports to Iran this year, according to official data. 

Recent years have seen dramatic rises in Turkey?s gold jewelry exports. While the country exported only around $1.3 million worth of gold jewelry in 2005, this figure had risen to $818.5 million in total last year. 

Jewelry Exporters Association head Ayhan Güner said Iran did not allow gold imports until the end of last year and Iranian customers generally preferred Dubai to buy gold jewelry. 

Saying the association had invited Iranians to several fairs in Istanbul, Güner added that Iranians saw Turkey as an important production center in jewelry products and exports to the country then started to increase. 

Güner noted that Iran is an important market for Turkey, and much higher amounts of gold jewelry can be sold to Iran than are sold now. 

Due to the international sanctions on Iran, only authorized people have been able to sell gold to Iran, but the lifting of the sanctions will lead to an even sharper increase in gold jewelry exports to Iran, Güner stated.