TEHRAN - The deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said the imports of the basic commodities into the country have been accelerating in the past few months, IRIB reported on Saturday.

Iran’s non-oil trade was declined in the first few months of the current year due to the outbreak of coronavirus but the government implemented several programs for boosting the level of trade.

According to the official, currently, over 3.402 million tons of basic goods are stored in the country's ports, among which corn, with 1.623 million tons, is the top imported item.

As reported, some 2.376 million tons of the mentioned goods have been stored in Imam Khomeini port.

Also, 15 vessels containing 586 thousand tons of basic goods are being unloaded, while 10 vessels containing 584 thousand tons of commodities are waiting to dock at the ports.

Jamal Orounaqi put the total number of containers in the country's ports at 102 thousand TEUs and noted that the number of full imported containers is over 30,000 that contain basic goods such as rice as well as non-essential items.

Earlier this month, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced that $5.267 billion was supplied for importing basic commodities in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (began on March 20).

Iran imported 25 million tons of basic goods during the previous Iranian calendar year, based on IRICA data.

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

“This year, the trend [of trade] 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. In this regard, we are going to make a new proposal to the government through the Economy Ministry,” Mirashrafi said in June.

EF/MA