TEHRAN- The value of non-oil export from Golestan province, in the northeast of Iran, rose 17 percent during the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-June 21), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, a provincial official announced.

Shahriyar Shahriyari, the director-general of the province’s Customs Department, said that 123,606 tons of non-oil goods worth $64.809 million were exported from the province in the three-month period of this year, with a 29-percent growth in weight, year on year.

He named cheese, eggs, polystyrene, fish food, iron pipes, dates, nylon, polyethylene compound, and rebar as the major exported items, and Turkmenistan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Romania, Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Armenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, India, and Kyrgyzstan as the main export destinations.

The official further announced that over 20,000 tons of non-oil products valued at $39.965 million were imported to the province in the first quarter of the present year.

He named crude soybean oil, greenhouse equipment, fabric, sodium sulfate, chemicals, and production line machinery as the main imported items, and China, Turkey, Turkmenistan, England, Kazakhstan, India, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Taiwan, Australia, and Germany as the major sources of imports.

As previously announced by Darvish-Ali Hassan-Zadeh, the head of the province’s Industry, Mining and Trade Department, the value of export from Golestan province increased by 26 percent in the past Iranian calendar year 1401 (ended on March 20), as compared to the preceding year.

He said that non-oil commodities worth $235 million were exported from the province to 33 countries in the previous year.

According to the data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), Iran’s non-oil trade stood at 44.1 million tons worth $26.5 billion during the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year.

Based on the IRICA data, the country’s non-oil export reached 35.5 million tons worth $12.5 billion, while the imports were 8.6 million tons valued at $14 billion in the first quarter of the current year.

During the mentioned period, the exports rose 24.4 percent in weight but dropped 8.84 percent in terms of value, however, the imports increased one percent in weight and 5.79 percent in value, as compared to the same period of time in the previous year.

China, Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and India were the top five export destinations of Iranian non-oil goods in the mentioned three months, and the UAE, China, Turkey, Germany, and India were the top five sources of import.

According to the IRICA data, corn, soybeans, sunflower seed oil, rice, wheat, and barley were the main items imported to the country.

MA