TEHRAN – The value of export from Markazi province, in the center of Iran, rose 39 percent during the first 11 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2021-February 19, 2022), from the same period of time in the past year, a provincial official announced.

Esmaeil Hosseini, the director-general of the province’s customs department, said that 1.483 million tons of commodities worth $1.109 billion were exported from the province in the 11-month period.

“The goods were exported to 98 countries, of which more than 80 percent was to neighboring countries, the first five countries for which a lot of exports were made, Iraq ranks first, followed by Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan”, the official stated.

He named light and heavy polyethylene, aluminum, food and beverages, glass and crystal products, and steel sections as the major exported products.

Hosseini further announced that 128,921 tons of commodities worth $446 million were imported from 49 countries to the province in the first 11 months of this year, rising 17 percent as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

He named United Arab Emirates, Turkey, China, India, and South Korea as the main sources of imports, and said, “Our main imports are factory raw materials, as well as machinery and parts, steel products and other raw materials.”

“About 99 percent of our imported goods belong to manufacturing companies that use machinery, raw materials and parts”, he added.

As previously announced by the deputy head of Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the value of Iran’s non-oil trade rose 38 percent during the first 11 months of the current year.

Foroud Asgari said that Iran traded over 149.4 million tons of non-oil products worth $90 billion with other countries in the mentioned period.

He noted that the weight of trade in the mentioned period also grew by 12 percent in comparison to the figure for the previous year’s same 11 months.

The official put the 11-month non-oil exports at 112.658 million tons valued at $43.517 billion, with a 40-percent rise in value and 10 percent growth in weight.

The Islamic Republic imported 36.777 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $46.577 billion in the first 11 months of the present year, with a 36 percent growth in value and a 19 percent rise in weight year on year, according to the official.

MA/MA