TEHRAN – The value of Iran’s annual non-oil export is expected to reach $46 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), the deputy head of Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) has announced.

Foroud Asgari, the deputy head of IRICA for technical affairs, said the export of non-oil commodities has been expedited since the sixth Iranian calendar month of Shahrivar (ended on September 22, 2021), so it is expected that the figure will reach $46 billion by the yearend.

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

IRICA former Head Mehdi Mir-Ashrafi had put the weight of non-oil trade at 146.4 million tons and said that the figure showed 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.

Among the country’s non-oil export destinations, China was the first, with importing $8.9 billion worth of products, Iraq was the second with importing $7.3 billion, the United Arab Emirates the third with importing $4.6 billion, Turkey the fourth with importing $2.5 billion, and Afghanistan the fifth with importing $2.2 billion, Mir-Ashrafi announced, and named gasoline, natural gas, polyethylene, propane, and pistachio as Iran’s major exported products during the past 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.

MA/MA