TEHRAN- The value of exports from Golestan province, in the northeast of Iran, has risen 52 percent during the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-July 22), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, a provincial official announced.

Ebrahim Hosseini, the director-general of the province’s customs department, said that 160,666 tons of products worth $46.228 million were exported from the province during the four-month period, indicating a 268-percent growth in terms of weight as well.

Polystyrene, cheese, dates, pistachios, cement, potatoes and iodine were the most important export items of Golestan in the said four months, respectively, which were exported to different countries including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan, the official stated.

He also announced that 2,389 tons of products worth $8.487 million were imported to the province in the first four months of the present year, showing 24 percent rise in terms of value and 39 percent growth in terms of weight, as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

According to him, the main imported goods included stabilizers, fabrics, synthetic waxes and antistats, which were imported from China, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Poland and Vietnam.

As announced by the head of Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the value of Iran’s non-oil trade rose 47 percent during the first four months of the current year, as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

Mehdi Mir-Ashrafi has said that Iran has traded 50.8 million tons of non-oil products worth nearly $29 billion with other countries in the mentioned four-month period, which indicates also 21 percent growth in terms of weight on an annual basis.

The official put the four-month non-oil export at 38.3 million tons valued at $14.3 billion, with a 65-percent rise in value and a 27-percent growth in weight.

The IRICA head mentioned liquefied gas, polyethylene, iron semi-finished products, methanol, gasoline, iron and steel ingots, steel products, iron rods, liquid propane, bitumen, and copper cathode as the main exported products in the said time span.

He said major export destinations of the Iranian non-oil goods were China with about 10 million tons worth $4.3 billion, Iraq with 10.9 million tons worth $2.8 billion, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 4.3 million tons worth $1.6 billion, Turkey with one million tons worth $923 million, and Afghanistan with 1.8 million tons worth $728 million.

The official further announced that Iran has imported 12.5 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $14.5 billion in the first four months of the present year, with 32 percent growth in value and five percent rise in weight year on year.

He said that the basic goods accounted for 9.4 million tons of the imported items.

Mir-Ashrafi named cellphones, livestock corn, sunflower oil, barley, meal, wheat, soybeans, sugar and rice as the main imported commodities.

The United Arab Emirates with four million tons of goods worth $4.7 billion was the first largest exporter of goods to Iran in the four-month period, followed by China with one million tons of goods worth $3.1 billion, Turkey with 1.3 million tons worth $1.5 billion, Germany with 351,000 tons worth $563 million, and Switzerland with 672,000 tons worth $539 million, the official stated.

As Mir-Ashrafi has previously announced, the value of Iran’s non-oil trade stood at $73 billion in the past Iranian calendar year.

He has put the weight of non-oil trade at 146.4 million tons, and said that the figure shows a 25-million-ton annual decline, which is the result of sanctions and coronavirus pandemic.

Iran’s non-oil export was 112 million tons valued at $34.5 billion, and that of import was 34.4 million tons worth $38.5 billion in the past year, the official added.

MA/MA