TEHRAN - Over 17.46 million tons of basic commodities worth $8.763 billion have been imported to the country during the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-December 20, 2020), the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said.

Imports of basic goods in the mentioned period decreased by two percent in terms of weight compared to the same time span in the previous year, according to Rouhollah Latifi.

As reported by the IRICA, more than 2,136,175 tons of basic goods were cleared from the country’s customs during the Ninth Iranian calendar months of Azar (November 21- December 20, 2020), about 450,000 tons more than the previous month.

Meanwhile, a total of 25 million tons of commodities were imported into the country during the mentioned nine months, of which 70 percent were basic goods.

Corn, barley, oilseeds, crude and liquid edible oil, and soybean meal were the top five items imported in the mentioned period, with over 12.296 million tons of the mentioned products worth over $4.145 being shipped into the country.

The said products accounted for 49 percent of the country's total imports as well as 70.5 percent of the imports of basic goods in the mentioned period, according to Latifi.

Iran imported 25 million tons of basic goods during the previous Iranian calendar year, based on the data released by the IRICA.

According to the IRICA Head Mehdi Mirashrafi, 35 million tons of commodities were imported into the country in the mentioned year, of which 25 million tons were basic goods.

“This year, the trend [of trade] has slowed down, and we hope that with the measures taken by the central bank, the Industry Ministry, and IRICA, we will be able to minimize the deposition of goods in the customs before and after clearance”, Mirashrafi said in June.

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