TEHRAN- Iran’s imports of basic goods during the 7.5-month period since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20) has decreased 27 percent, compared to the same period of time in the past year.

basic commodities worth $7.1 billion have been imported into the country, while the figures for the same time span of the previous year were 14.9 million tons valued at $9.7 billion.

Among the imported goods, corn with more than 6.1 million tons worth $1.4 billion, drugs and medical equipment valued at $948 million, oilseeds valued at $682.1 million and wheat with a worth of more than $666.5 million were the top imported items.

In early October, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced that $5.267 billion was supplied for importing basic commodities in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year.

Iran imported 25 million tons of basic goods during the previous Iranian calendar year, based on the data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA).

According to the IRICA Head Mehdi Mirashrafi, 35 million tons of commodities were imported into the country in the mentioned year, of which 25 million tons were basic goods.

“This year, the trend [of trade] has slowed down, and we hope that with the measures taken by the central bank, the Industry Ministry, and IRICA, we will be able to minimize the deposition of goods in the customs before and after clearance”, Mirashrafi said in June.

MA/MA