TEHRAN – The value of the Iranian exports of dried fruits, nuts and seeds in the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-June 21) increased by 28 percent compared to the same period last year, a senior official at Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) said.

According to Mahmoud Bazari, director-general of TPO’s Coordination Office for Development of Agro Products Export and Processing Industries, 128,000 tons of the mentioned products worth $319 million were exported to foreign destinations in the mentioned three months.

The official said that the three-month export also shows a 19-percent rise in terms of weight.

Pistachio accounted for 63 percent of the exported products, as 30,000 tons of pistachio worth $204 million was exported in the mentioned time span, with a 33-percent rise in value, and a 39-percent growth in weight as compared to the first quarter of the previous year, he added.

Iranian pistachio was exported to 80 countries in the first quarter, Bazari said, and mentioned India, China, Germany, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Russia, Turkey, and Pakistan as some of the main export destinations.

TPO is constantly monitoring and determining new destination markets for Iranian non-oil products and with the increase in the number of Iran’s trade partners, the exports of the country’s foodstuff and agricultural products, which are of high quality, is increasing every year.

As announced by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the value of Iran’s non-oil exports reached $10.7 billion in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year, up 69 percent compared to the last year’s same period.

According to Mehdi Mir-Ashrafi, Iran exported 30 million tons of non-oil commodities in the mentioned three months, registering a 38-percent rise compared to the figure for the last year’s Q1.

Meanwhile, some 8.4 million tons of goods valued at $10.2 billion were also imported into the country in the said period to register a 34-percent rise in terms of value compared to the last year’s same quarter.

In total, the Islamic Republic traded 38.4 million tons of non-oil goods worth $20.9 billion with its trade partners in the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year, up 25 percent and 50 percent in terms of weight and value, respectively, Mir-Ashrafi said.

According to the official, the country’s trade balance was $476 million positive in the mentioned time span.

Iran's top five non-oil export destinations during this period were China with $3.1 billion worth of exports, Iraq with $2.3 billion, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with over $1.3 billion, Turkey with $595 million, and Afghanistan with $570 million.

Meanwhile, the country’s top five sources of imports during these two months were the UAE with $3.2 billion, China with $2.2 billion, Turkey with $1 billion, Germany with $414 million, and Switzerland with $384 million worth of imports.

MA/MA