TEHRAN- As announced by a provincial official, over 129,000 tons of non-oil goods worth about $202 million were exported from Zanjan province during the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, September 22).

Zeyn-ul-Abedin Ganj-Khanlou, the director-general of the province’s customs department, said that the six-month export indicates 34 percent fall in terms of value, and five percent drop in terms of weight, year on year.

The official also announced that over 258,000 tons of non-oil goods worth about $335 million were imported to the province during the six-month period, with 19 percent rise in terms of value, and five percent growth in terms of weight, year on year.

He named different kinds of metal ingots and sections, sulfonic acid and dairy products as the major exported products and raw materials, production line parts and machines as the main imported items during the first half of the present year.

As previously announced by the head of the province’s Industry, Mining and Trade Department, commodities valued at $579 million were exported from Zanjan province in the past Iranian calendar year 1401 (ended on March 20).

Saying that six countries were added to the export destinations of the province, Majid Golshani said that currently, the main export target countries of the province are Turkey, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Pakistan, India, Azerbaijan, Oman, South Africa, Russia, and Spain.

He named zinc ingots, transformers and accessories, rebars, steel ingots, copper wire, zinc concentrate, cardboard, lead ingots, and dairy products as the main exported items.

The official further announced that commodities worth $504 million were imported to the province in the previous year, and named Turkey, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Slovakia, Singapore, Italy, China, Hong Kong, and Spain as the main sources of imports.

He listed wood pulp, recycled paper and cardboard, tobacco, polyamide and plastic tape, production line machines, polyamide thread and polyester thread as the major imported items.

As announced by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), Iran exported 67.7 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $24.144 billion in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year.

Mohammad Rezvanifar said that the export of non-oil commodities in H1 increased by 29 percent in terms of weight.

The official put the country’s value of six-month non-oil trade at $54.6 billion.

He said the value of the Islamic Republic’s non-oil trade in the first half of the current Iranian year increased by 4.84 percent compared to the same period last year.

In terms of weight, the country’s foreign trade reached 82.3 million tons which was 23.78 percent more than the figure for the previous year’s first half.

As the IRICA head announced, 17.6 million tons of goods valued at $30.443 billion were imported into the country in the said period, indicating an 11.62-percent rise in terms of value, and a 6.89 percent increase in terms of weight, year on year.

The average value of each ton of exported goods in the first six months of the current year was $356 and the average value of each ton of imported goods was $1,729.

Iran's top export destination during this period was China with $6.9 billion worth of imports from the Islamic Republic, followed by Iraq with $4.5 billion, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with over $3.0 billion, Turkey with $2.4 billion, and India with $1.1 billion.

Liquefied natural gas, liquid propane, and liquid butane were the top exported items in the said six months.

Meanwhile, the country’s top five sources of imports in the first half of the current year were the UAE with $9.0 billion, China with $8.8 billion, Turkey with $3.3 billion, Germany with $1.1 billion, and India with $987 million worth of imports.

Corn, smartphones, soybeans, sunflower seed oil, and rice were the top imported items in the period under review.

MA