TEHRAN- The value of export from Isfahan province rose 17 percent during the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, September 22), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, according to a provincial official.

Rasoul Kouhestani-Pajouh, the director-general of the province’s customs department, said that commodities worth $785.13 million were exported from the province in the six-month period.

The official put the weight of the exported products at 1.192 million tons, indicating 18 percent rise year on year.

He said that the products were exported to 81 countries, and named Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the major export destinations.

Kouhestani-Pajouh mentioned cast iron, iron and steel and byproducts, petrochemical products, dairy products, machine- and hand-woven carpets as the major exported items.

The official further announced that 57,927 tons of goods worth $299 million were imported to the province in the first half of the present year, with a one-percent rise in value, and 13 percent growth in weight, year on year.

He named mechanical and electrical machines, production lines, parts and raw materials needed by production units as the main imported items, and China, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Germany and Italy as the major sources of import.

As announced by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), Iran exported 67.7 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $24.144 billion in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year.

Mohammad Rezvanifar said that the export of non-oil commodities in H1 increased by 29 percent in terms of weight.

The official put the country’s value of six-month non-oil trade at $54.6 billion.

He said the value of the Islamic Republic’s non-oil trade in the first half of the current Iranian year increased by 4.84 percent compared to the same period last year.

In terms of weight, the country’s foreign trade reached 82.3 million tons which was 23.78 percent more than the figure for the previous year’s first half.

As the IRICA head announced, 17.6 million tons of goods valued at $30.443 billion were imported into the country in the said period, indicating an 11.62-percent rise in terms of value, and a 6.89 percent increase in terms of weight, year on year.

The average value of each ton of exported goods in the first six months of the current year was $356 and the average value of each ton of imported goods was $1,729.

Iran's top export destination during this period was China with $6.9 billion worth of imports from the Islamic Republic, followed by Iraq with $4.5 billion, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with over $3.0 billion, Turkey with $2.4 billion, and India with $1.1 billion.

Liquefied natural gas, liquid propane, and liquid butane were the top exported items in the said six months.

Meanwhile, the country’s top five sources of imports in the first half of the current year were the UAE with $9.0 billion, China with $8.8 billion, Turkey with $3.3 billion, Germany with $1.1 billion, and India with $987 million worth of imports.

Corn, smartphones, soybeans, sunflower seed oil, and rice were the top imported items in the period under review.

MA