TEHRAN – Iran’s trade with the member nations of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) reached $4.542 billion in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-September 21), the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said.

According to Rouhollah Latfi, during the mentioned six months Iran traded over 9.199 million tons of commodities with ECO member countries including Turkey, Afghanistan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Iran exported 6,540,295 tons of commodities worth over $2.526 billion to the said nations in the mentioned period, of which Afghanistan with $1.108 billion, was the first destination for the export of Iranian goods in this union, the official said.

Meanwhile, the country imported 2,657,706 tons of goods valued at over $2.016 billion from the ECO member countries, with the largest amount of imports coming from Turkey worth over $1.843 billion.

As previously reported by IRICA, the value of Iran’s non-oil trade during the first six months of the current year stood at $30.349 billion.

In the mentioned six months, Iran imported $16.783 billion worth of goods, while exporting $13.566 billion.

The volume of traded goods was estimated at about 62.842 million tons, of which over 46.318 million tons were related to exports and about 16.524 million tons were imported goods.

Iran's top five non-oil export destinations during this period were China with over $3.709 billion worth of exports, Iraq with $2.971 billion, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with over $1.933 billion, and Afghanistan with $1.103 billion as well as Turkey with $731 million, so the country’s top five export destinations remained the same in comparison to previous months, according to IRICA.

China accounted for over 27 percent of Iran’s total exports, followed by Iraq, UAE, Afghanistan, and Turkey with 21.9 percent, 14.2 percent, 8.1 percent, and 45.3 percent respectively.

Polyethylene, natural gas, liquefied propane, and other light oils and products are Iran's major export items.

According to the IRICA, more than 70 percent of the imported goods were basic goods and the rest were mainly raw materials, machinery and spare parts for production units.

The top five sources of imports during this period were China with $4.295 billion, the UAE with $3.961 billion, Turkey with $1.814 billion, India with $1.097 billion, and Germany with $835 million worth of imports.

China accounted for nearly 26 percent of Iran’s total imports, followed by UAE, Turkey, India, and Germany with 23 percent, 10.8 percent, 6.5 percent, and five percent, respectively.

EF/MA