TEHRAN – The value of export from Mazandaran province, in the north of Iran, rose two percent in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-October 22), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, an official with the customs department of the province announced.

Asgar Niknafs said that 636,740 tons of commodities worth $161.26 million have been exported from the province in the seven-month period, showing 24 percent rise in terms of weight year on year.

He named dairy products, plastic materials, cement, food products, metals and their artifacts, products from mineral materials, wood and wooden objects, paper, textile materials and artifacts from these materials, and chemical industry products as the major exported items, and Iraq, Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the main export destinations.

The official further announced that 1.289 million tons of commodities valued at $796.482 million have been imported to the province in the first seven months of the present year, showing 12 percent rise in terms of value and 28 percent drop in terms of weight as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

He named animal and vegetable fats and oils, corn, oats, wheat, petroleum and metallurgical coke, machinery and its components, paper, towing float, wood and chemical products as the major imported items, and Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Kazakhstan and Switzerland as the main sources of imports in the seven-month period of the current year.

As previously announced by Hossein-Qoli Qavanlou, the head of the province’s Industry, Mining and Trade Department, the value of export from Mazandaran province rose 55 percent in the past Iranian calendar year 1400 (ended on March 20), from its preceding year.

He said that commodities worth $277 million were exported from the province in the previous year.

In terms of the weight, the exports also indicate 44 percent annual growth, he added.

The official further named cement, minerals, dairy products, plastic, and kiwi as the main exported products, and Iraq, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, and India as the major export destinations.

As announced by the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the value of Iran’s non-oil export rose 5.6 percent during the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year, as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

According to Morteza Emadi, Iran exported 61.283 million tons of goods valued at $28.406 billion in the mentioned seven months, registering an 18.2-percent decline in weight.

Liquefied propane, methanol, liquefied butane, film-grade polyethylene, petroleum bitumen, liquefied natural gas, urea, iron and steel ingots, and light oils and petroleum products were the main exported products in the said time span, accounting for 41.9 percent of the total value of the exports.

Major export destinations of the Iranian non-oil goods were China with $9.181 billion of imports, Iraq with $4.029 billion, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with $3.476 billion, Turkey with $3.081 billion, and India with $1.098 billion.

According to the official, the Islamic Republic has also imported 19.747 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $31.727 billion in the first seven months of the present year, with a 14.4-percent growth in value and a 15.7-percent decrease in weight, year on year.

The first five items of goods imported into the country in the said period include corn, rice, wheat, soybeans, cell phones, sunflower and safflower oil, tractors, and unrefined sugar.

The United Arab Emirates with $9.435 billion was the top exporter to Iran in the mentioned seven months, followed by China with $8.284 billion, Turkey with $3.218 billion, India with $1.695 billion, and Germany with $991 million worth of exports.

Reportedly, the value of Iran’s non-oil trade rose 10 percent during the first seven months of the present year, as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

Iran traded 81.03 million tons of non-oil products worth $60.133 billion with other countries in the mentioned period.

The weight of the total non-oil trade in the said time span declined 17.6 percent, year on year.

MA/MA