TEHRAN- The value of Iran’s export to the Caspian Sea littoral states increased 45 percent in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-August 22), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, an official with Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) announced.

Rahmatollah Khormali, the director-general of the TPO's office of Central Asia, Caucasus, and Russia, put Iran’s value of five-month export to the mentioned countries at $814 million.

According to the official, among the mentioned countries, Azerbaijan accounted for the highest growth of import from Iran (84 percent), followed by Turkmenistan (40 percent), and Russia (31 percent).

As previously announced by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the value of Iran’s non-oil exports reached $20.924 billion in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year, up 21 percent compared to the last year’s same period.

According to Alireza Moghadasi, Iran exported 44 million tons of non-oil commodities in the mentioned five months which was 3.5 percent less than the figure for the previous year’s same period.

Meanwhile, some 14 million tons of goods valued at $21.665 billion were imported into the country, indicating a 19-percent rise in terms of value compared to the last year’s same time span, he said.

The weight of the imported goods declined by 8.5 percent, year on year, the official added.

In total, the Islamic Republic traded about 58 million tons of non-oil goods worth $42.589 billion with its trade partners in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year, up about 23 percent in terms of value.

Iran's top export destinations during this period were China, Iraq, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, and India, according to Moghadasi.

Liquid propane, methanol, liquefied natural gas, polyethylene, iron, and steel ingots were among the top exported items in the said five months.

The country’s top five sources of imports during these five months were the UAE, China, Turkey, India, and Russia.

MA/MA