TEHRAN- As announced by a provincial official, 505,000 tons of products worth $279 million were exported from Khorasan Razavi province, in the northeast of Iran, in the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-June 21).

Javad Jafari, an official with the province’s customs department, said that of the mentioned exported goods, products valued at $34 million had been produced inside the province.

As previously announced by the official, the value of non-oil export from Khorasan Razavi rose six percent in the past Iranian calendar year 1400 (ended on March 20), from its preceding year.

He said that 2.607 million tons of commodities worth $1.4 billion were exported from the province in the past year, indicating five percent fall in terms of weight year on year.

He named Iraq, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan as the major export destinations of the province’ products.

Jafari also announced that 229,000 tons of commodities worth $579 million were imported to Khorasan Razavi in the previous year, with 53 percent rise in value and 23 percent growth in weight year on year.

He named Oman, China, Tajikistan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the main sources of imports to the province during the previous year.

As announced by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the value of Iran’s non-oil exports reached $13.69 billion in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year, up 21 percent compared to the last year’s same period.

Alireza Moghadasi said Iran exported 27.7 million tons of non-oil commodities in the mentioned three months.

Meanwhile, some 8.154 million tons of goods valued at $12.464 billion were imported into the country in the said period to register an 18-percent rise in terms of value compared to the last year’s same quarter.

In total, the Islamic Republic traded about 36 million tons of non-oil goods worth $25.5 billion with its trade partners in the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year, up 19.5 percent in terms of value, Moghadasi said.

According to the official, the country’s trade balance was $605 million positive in the mentioned time span.

Iran's top export destination during this period was China with $4.214 billion worth of imports from the Islamic Republic, followed by Iraq with $1.824 billion, Turkey with $1.737 billion, the United Arab Emirates with over $1.645 billion, and India with $424 million.

Meanwhile, the country’s top five sources of imports during these three months were the UAE with $3.426 billion, China with $3.131 billion, Turkey with $1.273 billion, India with $512 million, and Germany with $456 million worth of imports.

MA/MA