TEHRAN - The value of Iran’s non-oil trade rose 38 percent during the first 11 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2021-February 19, 2022), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, a senior official with the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

According to IRICA Deputy Head for Customs Affairs Foroud Asgari, Iran traded over 149.4 million tons of non-oil products worth $90 billion with other countries in the mentioned period, IRIB reported.

Asgari noted that the weight of trade in the mentioned period also grew by 12 percent in comparison to the figure for the previous year’s same 11 months.

The official put the 11-month non-oil exports at 112.658 million tons valued at $43.517 billion, with a 40-percent rise in value and 10 percent growth in weight.

The Islamic Republic imported 36.777 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $46.577 billion in the first 11 months of the present year, with a 36 percent growth in value and a 19 percent rise in weight year on year, according to the official.

Iran's main imports during this period consisted of basic goods, inputs, machinery, medicine and medical supplies that were imported to meet the essential needs of the country.

The customs administration had previously announced that the value of Iran’s non-oil trade stood at $73 billion in the past Iranian calendar year.

IRICA former Head Mehdi Mir-Ashrafi had put the weight of non-oil trade at 146.4 million tons and said that the figure showed a 25-million-ton annual decline, which is the result of sanctions and coronavirus pandemic.

The Islamic Republic’s non-oil export was 112 million tons valued at $34.5 billion, and that of import was 34.4 million tons worth $38.5 billion in the past year, the official added.

Among the country’s non-oil export destinations, China was the first, with importing $8.9 billion worth of products, Iraq was the second with importing $7.3 billion, the United Arab Emirates the third with importing $4.6 billion, Turkey the fourth with importing $2.5 billion, and Afghanistan the fifth with importing $2.2 billion, Mir-Ashrafi announced, and named gasoline, natural gas, polyethylene, propane, and pistachio as Iran’s major exported products during the past year.

Iran’s top sources of non-oil imports in the mentioned year were China with exporting $9.7 billion worth of products to the Islamic Republic, the UAE with $9.6 billion, Turkey with $4.3 billion, India with $2.1 billion, and Germany with $1.8 billion, respectively, and mentioned corn, cellphone, rice, oil meal, and oilseeds, wheat, and raw oil as the major imported items.

EF/MA