TEHRAN – Iran exported over $7.6 billion worth of commodities to the members of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-December 21, 2021) to register a 52-percent increase year on year, the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said.

According to Ruhollah Latifi, the Islamic Republic exported 19,856,531 tons of goods valued at $7,640,488,517 to the mentioned countries during the said period, IRNA reported.

The volume of exports also increased by 41 percent in comparison to the previous year’s same nine months, the official said.

Latifi noted that Iran traded over 23.24 million tons of non-oil goods worth $11.754 billion with the members of the said union in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, indicating a 44-percent increase in terms of value and a 30-percent rise in terms of weight, year on year.

He said major export destinations of the Iranian goods in the said union were Turkey with about $4.131 billion of imports, Afghanistan with $1.412 billion, Pakistan with $911 million, and Azerbaijan with $388 million.

Meanwhile, the country imported 3,383,507 tons of goods valued at over $4.113 billion from the ECO member countries, with Turkey, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan being the top sources of imported goods.

The value of Iranian imports from the ECO union also increased by 27 percent compared to the previous year’s same time span, the official said.

The Islamic Republic had traded over $10.447 billion worth of non-oil goods with the ECO members in the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-November 22, 2021) to register a 44 percent increase year on year.

The total value of Iran’s non-oil trade rose 38 percent during the first nine months of the current year as compared to the same period of time in the past year. The country traded over 122.5 million tons of non-oil products worth $72.1 billion with other countries in the mentioned period.

The Economic Cooperation Organization or ECO is an Asian political and economic intergovernmental organization that was founded in 1985 in Tehran by the leaders of Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey.

EF/MA