TEHRAN – Iran imported 20.322 million tons of basic goods worth $12.436 billion in the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-November 21), 62 percent more than the figure for last year’s same period, Mehr News Agency reported.

According to the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Rohollah Latifi, the imports of basic goods in the mentioned eight months also increased by 30 percent in terms of weight.

The mentioned goods accounted for 75 percent of the country’s total imports in terms of weight and 38 percent of the total value of the imports during the said period.

Sugar, wheat, basic machinery, chemical fertilizers, soybean meal, edible oils, oilseeds, barley, and corn were among the imported basic goods.

The value of Iran’s non-oil trade rose 40 percent during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year, as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

According to IRCI Head Mehdi Mir-Ashrafi, Iran traded over 110.3 million tons of non-oil products worth $63.1 billion with other countries in the mentioned period.

The Islamic Republic imported 26.5 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $32 billion in the first eight months of the present year, with a 38-percent growth in value and a 21-percent rise in weight year on year.

The United Arab Emirates was the top exporter to Iran in the said period, followed by China, Turkey, Germany, and Switzerland, he stated.

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

He further named Iran’s top sources of non-oil imports in the said time, as China with exporting $9.7 billion worth of products to the Islamic Republic, the UAE with $9.6 billion, Turkey with $4.3 billion, India with $2.1 billion, and Germany with $1.8 billion, respectively, and mentioned corn, cellphone, rice, oil meal, and oilseeds, wheat, and raw oil as the major imported items.

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