TEHRAN- The value of Iran’s exports of agricultural products and foodstuffs stood at $336 million in the first month of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-April 19), according to the acting head of Agriculture Ministry’s Economic Affairs Department Shahrokh Shajari.

The official said that while the coronavirus pandemic slowed down the process of exporting the mentioned products in the first month of the year, the monthly weight of exports rose 25.8 percent to 680,000 tons compared to the same month in the past year, IRIB reported.

Shajari further put Iran’s imports of agricultural products and foodstuffs at 2.078 million tons valued at $831 million in the first month of this year. 

The official has previously put Iran’s exports of the mentioned products at about 7.104 million tons worth $5.8 billion in the past Iranian calendar year.

In the previous year, over 6.941 million tons of agricultural and foodstuff products worth $6.392 billion were also imported into the country, according to Shajari.

Watermelons, apples, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and shallots were the top five exported products in the previous year in terms of weight, while in terms of value, pistachios, apples, tomatoes, pistachio kernels, and watermelons were the five major export products.

Shajari further pointed to the major imported items in terms of weight, saying, corn, barley, soybean meal, soybean, and untreated sugar were the top five imported items, while in terms of value livestock corn, rice, barley, and soybeans were the top imported products.

MA/MA