TEHRAN – Iran’s non-oil exports during the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2019-January 20, 2020) has experienced a 20-percent rise in terms of weight while contracting three percent in terms of value, according to the country’s finance and economic affairs minister.

“Despite the pressures and restrictions imposed by the United States [on the country’s economy], Iran's non-oil export has changed only three percent in the past ten months compared to the same period last year,” Farhad Dejpasand told the press on Tuesday after a meeting of the parliament’s Economic Committee.

The official noted that the decrease in the value of the non-oil export has been mostly due to a 30-percent decrease which the government has applied on the value of the exported items, since the reported prices were believed to be more than the real value of the goods.

“The three-percent fall in terms of value is because exporters believed that the value assigned to the exported goods was more than their real value considering their base prices,” Dejpasand said.

Asked about deposition of commodities in the country’s customs, the minister said: "The goods and materials which haven’t been declared to the customs are not considered deposited so we have minimal deposition of raw materials, and basic goods in the country’s customs at the moment.”

Iran’s non-oil trade with other countries registered a $100-million positive balance in the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21 – December 21, 2019).

The country’s non-oil exports reached $31.9 billion in the first nine months of the current year, while the imports stood at $31.8 billion.

EF/MA