TEHRAN- Over 267,000 tons of commodities valued at $104.095 million have been exported from Fars Province, in the center of Iran, during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-November 20), according to a provincial official.

Khodadad Rahimi, director-general of the province’s customs department, mentioned dairy products, aluminum, and tomato paste as the major products exported to 48 countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, Kuwait, Germany, the United Araba Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Vietnam, and India.

The official also announced that 23,306 tons of commodities worth $97.531 million have been imported to the province during the eight-month period, and mentioned China, Brazil, South Korea, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Germany, Indonesia, and India as the main sources of import.

As announced by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the value of Iran’s non-oil trade during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year reached $44.6 billion.

Mehdi Mirashrafi has said that in the mentioned eight months, Iran imported $23.1 billion worth of goods, while the exports stood at $21.5 billion.

The total volume of traded goods was estimated at about 97.7 million tons, of which over 75 million tons were related to exports and about 21.8 million tons were imported goods.

According to Mirashrafi, the imports in the said period declined one percent and 18 percent in terms of weight and value, respectively.

The exports also experienced a fall of 14 percent and 19 percent in terms of weight and value, respectively.

Noting the downward trend of the country’s foreign trade is ending and the trade is getting back to normal, the official said: "As we announced in previous months, fortunately, the downward trend of our country's exports is approaching normal conditions month by month, and we hope to have better conditions in terms of exports by the end of the year."

Iran's top five non-oil export destinations during this period were Iraq with over $5.3 billion worth of exports, China with the same amount, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with over $2.7 billion, and Turkey with $1.6 billion as well as Afghanistan with $1.5 billion.

According to the IRICA head, the top five sources of imports during this period were China with $6 billion, the UAE with $5.4 billion, Turkey with $2.6 billion, India with $1.4 billion, and Germany with $1.1 billion worth of imports.

Most of the imported goods into the country in the mentioned time span were basic goods or raw materials, Mirashrafi stressed.

MA/MA