TEHRAN- Commodities worth $579 million have been exported from Alborz Province, near the capital Tehran, during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-November 20), showing a 75-percent rise compared to the same period of time in the past year, according to a provincial official.

Jahangir Shahmoradi, the deputy governor-general of the province for economic coordination, said the province’s performance in terms of exports has been outstanding despite the limitations caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and also the sanctions. 

He said over 3,500 production and industrial units are currently active in the province.

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