Non-oil exports up 18% in eight months: IRICA
The head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced an 18% increase in the country’s non-oil exports during the first eight months of the current Iranian year, reaching $38.152 billion.
Foroud Asgari, the IRICA head, presented the latest statistics on Tuesday, highlighting developments in Iran’s non-oil trade noting that imports, including gold bullion, amounted to $45.127 billion during the same period, IRNA reported.
In terms of weight, Asgari said Iran’s imports decreased by 1.73%, reaching 24.525 million tons. Meanwhile, non-oil export reached 103.558 million tons, marking a 14.66% year-over-year increase.
Asgari added that the average value per ton of exported goods rose by 3%, reaching $368 during the eight-month period.
According to the IRICA head, Iran exported 44.9 million tons of petrochemical products valued at $17.5 billion during the same period. This represented a 31.43% increase in weight and a 29.79% increase in value compared to the previous year.
China and Iraq were the top destinations for Iranian goods. Asgari stated that China accounted for $9.9 billion of Iran’s exports, followed by Iraq ($8.3 billion), the United Arab Emirates ($4.8 billion), Turkey ($4.4 billion), Afghanistan ($1.6 billion), Pakistan ($1.5 billion), and India ($1.2 billion).
These seven countries collectively accounted for 82.29% of the weight and 82.94% of the value of Iran’s total non-oil exports.
The largest sources of imported goods were the UAE ($13.6 billion), China ($11.5 billion), Turkey ($7.8 billion), Germany ($1.6 billion), Russia ($1.1 billion), India ($1 billion), and Hong Kong ($900 million). Together, these countries represented 76.42% of the weight and 83% of the value of Iran’s total imports.
The average value per ton of imported goods rose by 8% to $1,840 during this eight-month period, Asgari said.
Iran’s top export items included liquefied natural gas ($5.1 billion), liquefied propane ($2.2 billion), and methanol ($1.7 billion). On the import side, the main items were unprocessed gold ($4.6 billion), corn for livestock feed ($1.8 billion), and smartphones ($1.5 billion).