TEHRAN- The value of Iran’s non-oil export to the neighboring countries increased by nine percent during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-November 21), the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

Mohammad Rezvani-Far said that Iran exported 48 million tons of non-oil goods worth $18.38 billion to its neighbors during the eight-month period, also indicating 21 percent growth in terms of weight, year-on-year.

The official said that Iran had exported 40 million tons of non-oil commodities valued at $16.9 billion to those countries in the first eight months of the previous year.

The IRICA head further announced that Iran imported 14.6 million tons of non-oil goods worth $20 billion from the neighboring countries in the first eight months of the present year, with 14 percent growth in value, and seven percent rise in weight, as compared to the same time span of the past year.

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.

According to the data released by the IRICA, the value of Iran’s non-oil exports exceeded $32 billion in the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year.

Based on the IRICA data, Iran exported 90.044 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $32.243 billion in the mentioned eight months.

The non-oil exports in the mentioned period increased by 27 percent in terms of weight, and 1.6 percent in terms of value, year on year.

The average value of each ton of exported goods in the first eight months of the current year was $358 while the average value of each ton of exported goods in the previous year’s same period was reported to be $462.

Liquefied natural gas, liquefied propane, methanol, petroleum bitumen, and liquefied butane were the five main exported goods in the period under review.

Iran's top export destination during this period was China with $9.158 billion worth of imports from the Islamic Republic, followed by Iraq with $6.023 billion, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with over $4.162 billion, Turkey with $3.028 billion, and India with $1.466 billion.

Meanwhile, some 24.709 million tons of goods valued at $42.199 billion were imported into the country in the said period, indicating a 12.36-percent rise in terms of value, and a 4.32 percent increase in terms of weight, year on year.

The average customs value of each ton of imported goods during this period was $1,708, which shows a 7.70 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

Corn, mobile phones, soybeans, automobile parts, sunflower seeds, and safflower were the five main items of imported goods in the mentioned eight-month period.

The country’s top five sources of imports in the first eight months of the current year were the UAE with $13.054 billion, China with $12.191 billion, Turkey with $4.443 billion, Germany with $1.428 billion, and India with $1.244 billion worth of imports.

MA