TEHRAN- The value of Iran’s non-oil export to its neighboring countries increased 22 percent in 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, the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

Ruhollah Latifi said that Iran has exported 20.711 million tons of non-oil products worth $8.871 billion to its neighbors in the said four-month period.

Putting the four-month non-oil trade of Iran with the neighboring countries at 27.35 million tons worth $16.871 billion, the official said that the value of trade shows an 18-percent rise year on year.

Latifi further announced that the Islamic Republic has imported 6.323 million tons of non-oil goods valued at $8.14 billion from its neighbors in the first four months of this year, with a 13-percent growth year on year.

As previously announced by the IRICA head, the value of Iran’s non-oil trade with its neighbors during the previous Iranian calendar year 1400 (ended on March 20) stood at $51.875 billion to register a 43 percent increase year on year.

Alireza Moghadasi put the weight of non-oil trade with the neighboring countries at 100.131 million tons in the said year, stating that trade with the neighbors also increased by 23 percent in terms of weight.

The official put the annual non-oil exports to the mentioned countries at 75.445 million tons valued at $26.29 billion, with a 29 percent rise in value and a 12 percent growth in weight.

Major export destinations of the Iranian non-oil goods were Iraq with $8.9 billion, Turkey with $6.1 billion, the United Arab Emirates with $4.9 billion, Afghanistan with $1.8 billion, and Pakistan with $1.3 billion in imports from the Islamic Republic, followed by Oman, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, according to the official.

Moghadasi further stated that Iran imported 24.686 million tons of non-oil commodities worth over $25.846 billion in the previous year, with a 60-percent growth in value and a 68-percent rise in weight year on year.

The United Arab Emirates was the top exporter to Iran in the said period exporting $16.5 billion worth of goods to the country, followed by Turkey, Russia, Iraq, and Oman, he stated.

Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain were other top neighboring countries that supplied goods to Iran in 1400, respectively.

Increasing non-oil exports to the neighboring countries is one of the major plans that the Iranian government has been pursuing in recent years.

Iran shares land or water borders with 15 countries namely UAE, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Saudi Arabia.

MA/MA