TEHRAN – The value of non-oil exports from Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (PSEEZ) in Iran’s southwestern port city of Assaluyeh increased 39 percent in terms of weight and five percent in terms of value, in the Iranian calendar month of Aban (October 23-November 21) compared to the last year’s same period, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

The increase in the country’s non-oil exports comes in a time when Iran has been facing many restrictions regarding shipping, insurance, and banking transaction under the unjust U.S. sanctions.

According to the PSEEZ Customs Managing Director, Ahmad Pour-Heydar, in the mentioned time span, over $500 million worth of non-oil commodities were exported from the zone.

The official put the weight of the exported products at over 1.6 million tons, saying that “The products included methanol, propane, butane, light and heavy polyethylene, ammonia, sulfur, and styrene.”

The goods were exported to China, UAE, South Korea, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, and Kuwait and so on, he added.

Iran exported 80 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $24.5 billion during the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-October 22), registering a 17-percent rise in terms of weight.

According to Deputy Industry Minister Hossein Modares Khiabani, in terms of value the figure fell 11 percent in comparison to the last year’s same time span.

The official noted that the government has allocated 870 billion rials (about $20.7 million) of facilities to be used as incentives for the country’s exporters in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 19, 2020), adding that such incentives could boost the country’s non-oil exports.

On May 18, 2018, the U.S. President Donald Trump announced his country’s withdrawal from Iran’s nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action endorsed by the UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

The U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA and imposing sanctions in contravention of the UN Resolution, requiring to lift international sanctions on Iran, have been condemned by all the other signatories to the deal, i.e. China, Russia, France, England, and Germany.

EF/MA