TEHRAN- Iran’s agricultural products export has risen 12.2 percent during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-September 21), from the first half of the past year, an official with the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced on Saturday.

Mehrdad Jamal Orounaqi, the IRICA deputy head for technical and customs affairs, put the value of exported products at $2.57 billion in the first half of the present year, IRNA reported.

He said the weight of agricultural products exported in the six-month period has risen 24.4 percent to stand at 2.979 million tons.

The official mentioned pistachios, tomatoes, watermelons, tomato paste, pistachio kernels, apples, potatoes, and peaches as the major exported products.

Pistachio was the top exported item, as 47,000 tons of the product valued at $304 million was exported in the first half, he added.

Orounaqi further named Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Afghanistan, and China as the top export destinations of Iranian agricultural products in the six-month period.

Iran exported over $5.8 billion worth of agricultural and foodstuff products in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19), Head of Agriculture Ministry’s Planning and Economic Affairs Department Shahrokh Shajari has announced.

According to the official, about 7.104 million tons of such products worth $5.821 billion were exported to foreign destinations last year.

In the mentioned period, over 6.941 million tons of agricultural and foodstuff products worth $6.392 billion were also imported into the country, according to Shajari.

Watermelons, apples, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and shallots were the top five exported products in the previous year in terms of weight, while in terms of value, pistachios, apples, tomatoes, pistachio kernels, and watermelons were the five major exported items.

Shajari further pointed to the major imported items in terms of weight, saying, corn, barley, soybean meal, soybean, and untreated sugar were the top five imported items, while in terms of value livestock corn, rice, barley, and soybeans were the top imported products.

MA/MA