TEHRAN – The value of export from West Azarbaijan province, in the northwest of Iran, rose nine percent in the first two months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-May 21), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, a provincial official announced.

Abdol-Hamid Sartipi, the acting head of the province’s Industry, Mining and Trade Department, said that commodities worth over $118 million were exported from the province in the two-month period.

The official also stated that the two-month export indicates a 17-percent rise in terms of weight year on year, putting the weight of exported products at 366.53 million tons.

He named agricultural and industrial products, minerals, petrochemicals, carpets, and handicrafts as the major items exported from the province.

The data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) show that the value of Iran’s export of non-oil products increased 37 percent during the first two months of the current year, as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

Iran exported 17.014 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $8.516 billion in the said two months, also registering a 1.6-percent rise in weight as compared to the first two months of the previous year, the data indicate.

Based on the IRICA data, Iran traded over 22.196 million tons of non-oil products worth $16.631 billion with other countries in the mentioned period.

The Islamic Republic imported 5.182 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $8.115 billion in the first two months of the present year, with a 24-percent growth in value and a 3.37-percent decline in weight year on year.

Among the country’s non-oil export destinations, China was the first, importing $2.720 billion worth of products, the United Arab Emirates was the second with $1.502 billion worth of imports, Iraq the third importing $1.312 billion, Turkey the fourth with $766 million of imports, and India the fifth importing $290 million worth of products in the mentioned period.

Iran’s top sources of non-oil imports in the mentioned two months were China, Turkey, India, and Russia.

Considering the amounts of exports and imports in the mentioned two months, the country's foreign trade balance became $401 million positive.

MA/MA