TEHRAN- Over 10.7 million tons of basic commodities worth $5 billion have been imported to the country during the 5.5-month period from the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) told ILNA on Friday.

Ruhollah Latifi put the imported rice during the mentioned time span at 512,484 tons worth $468.1 million, corn at 4.527 million tons valued at $1.96 billion, and barley at 947,656 tons worth $230.5 million.

Last month the official said that there was no shortage of basic goods in the country.

IRICA head has previously announced that 25 million tons of basic goods have been cleared from Iran’s customs during the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19).

According to Mehdi Mirashrafi, 35 million tons of commodities were imported into the country in the mentioned year, of which 25 million tons were basic goods.

Noting that the coronavirus outbreak has decreased the level of trade in the current Iranian calendar year, the official said in late June: “This year, the trend has slowed down, and we hope that with the measures taken by the Central Bank [of Iran (CBI)], the Industry Ministry, and IRICA, we will be able to minimize the deposition of goods in the customs before and after clearance.”

Back in August 2019, in a directive addressing IRICA, Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Farhad Dejpasand obliged the customs administration to take necessary measures for facilitating customs processes.

Following the Finance Ministry’s directive, in January 2020, IRICA obliged the customs departments throughout the country to take necessary measures for the facilitation of the clearance of basic goods.

The new instructions declared to the country’s customs departments required the representatives of the related organizations to act under the supervision of IRICA for conducting necessary controls and inspections.

MA/MA