TEHRAN - Iran’s annual trade turnover has been envisaged to reach $160 billion by the end of the fifth five-year development plan (March 2016), an official with the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI) stated.

 

Kiyumars Fathollah Kermanshahi added that the value of annual imports and exports are planned to reach $77 billion and $83 billion respectively by 2016, the IRNA News Agency reported.

 

Iran has scaled up its trade with 160 countries in the past calendar year, which ended on March 19, despite being embattled with global economic sanctions, the head of the Customs Administration said in April.

 

Abbas Memarnejad said the non-oil trade balance decreased to $17.9 billion last year from $30.5 billion the year before, the IRNA News Agency reported.

 

He added that exports rose by 28 percent year on year, while imports fell by four percent.

 

Iran exported $43.7 billion worth of non-oil goods last year and imported $61.8 billion worth of goods, to hit the unprecedented mark of $105 billion in annual trade.

 

On March 16, the TPOI director Hamid Safdel said Iran’s main non-oil exports were gas condensates, petrochemical products and engineering services, amounting to $9 billion, $13 billion, and $4 billion respectively.

 

Other exports, including carpets, handicrafts and agricultural goods such as nuts, were valued at around $17 billion.

 

First Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi announced in January that Iran’s overall non-oil trade balance is anticipated to reach zero in the next Iranian calendar year.

 

China, the UAE, and Iraq were respectively the main destinations for the Iranian goods, while the UAE, China and South Korea (in that order), were the main exporters to Iran during the last calendar year.