TEHRAN Over the first five months of the current Iranian year (started March 21), some 1.5 million tons of non-oil goods, valued at Rls.578.6 billion, were exported abroad from Hormozgan Province (south Iran), the head of the provincial Shahid Rajaie Customs Office said here on Sunday.

"The figure shows increases of 29 percent and 38 percent in terms of weight and value, respectively, compared to the figure of the preceding year (started March 20, 2000)," Mohammad-Rashid Salagi added.

He said the goods, mainly textiles as well as marine, agricultural, mineral, chemical and industrial products, "were mainly exported to China, Germany, Oman, India as well as the United Arab Emirates."

He said that during the same period some 5.7 million tons of assorted goods, worth Rls.5.5 billion, were imported into the country through the province. "The figure indicates increases of 44 percent and 28 percent in terms of weight and value, respectively, compared to the previous year's figure."

He further noted that the goods, mainly wheat, edible oil, meat, barley, industrial and mechanical instruments, plastic materials and chemical products as well as road-building machinery, were mainly imported from Taiwan, Germany, Italy, India, China, South Korea as well as the United Arab Emirates.

"The country earned more than Rls.1,120 billion in revenues through the activities of the Shahid Rajaie Customs Office," Salagi said, noting an increase of 75 percent in revenues this year compared to that of the year before.