TEHRAN – Iran’s non-oil trade exceeded $42.14 billion in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-September 21), recording a positive balance, IRIB news reported on Sunday.

According to Iran’s custom administration, the country’s non-oil exports reached $21.706 billion in the first half of this year, registering a 5.99 percent rise compared to the same period last year.

Iran’s worth of non-oil imports stood at $20.308 billion during the mentioned time, a 2.61 percent drop from the figure of last year’s first six months.

During the said period, gas condensate was reported to be the main export product with a total value of $3.496 billion although the commodity recorded a 12.85 percent fall year-on-year, followed by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

Moreover, during the mentioned period a total value of $8.698 billion of petrochemical products were exported from the country which indicates a 22.4 percent growth compared to the first half of last year.

The main imported items during the first six months of the current Iranian year included corn, soybeans, rice, automobile parts and different types of vehicles.

China is still the biggest buyer of Iranian goods so that in the first six months of this year the total value of Iran’s exports to China reached $3.998 billion registering a 1.92 percent rise over the same period last year; China is followed by the UAE, Iraq, Turkey and South Korea in the list of top importers from Iran.

The country’s foreign trade statistics during the first six months of this year indicates an increase in imports of German goods.

Germany sent $1.122 billion worth of goods to Iran in the first half with a considerable rise of 26 percent compared to H1 last year.

Germany is number five in the list of top exporters to Iran following China, the UAE, South Korea and Turkey on the top.

EF/MA