TEHRAN - The value of Iran’s foreign trade including oil and technical engineering services reached $138.8 billion in the first 11 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2023-February 19, 2024), the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said.

According to Mohammad Rezvanifar, the value of the Islamic Republic’s trade with the partners in the mentioned 11 months increased by 2.7 percent compared to the same period last year, IRNA reported.

The official put the country’s non-oil exports, excluding exports of electricity, crude oil, and techno-engineering services, at 124.7 million tons worth $44.8 billion which shows an 11.42 percent rise in terms of tonnage and an 8.87 percent decline in terms of value.

He said that Iran’s foreign trade, including oil exports, has registered a $19 billion surplus while seeing a $15 billion deficit without petrodollars.

Iran exported $32.59 billion of crude oil and $1.9 billion of technical engineering services in the first 11 months of this year, according to Rezvanifar.

During this period, liquefied natural gas with $3.0 billion, liquefied propane with $2.8 billion, and methanol with $2.0 billion were Iran’s top exported items.

Iran's top export destination during this period was China with $12.7 billion worth of imports from the Islamic Republic, followed by Iraq with $8.6 billion, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with over $5.9 billion, Turkey with $3.8 billion, and India with $2.0 billion.

The country’s top five sources of imports in the first 11 months of the current year were the UAE with $18.6 billion, China with $16.8 billion, Turkey with $6.8 billion, Germany with $1.9 billion, and India with $1.8 billion worth of imports.

Corn, mobile phones, soybeans, automobile parts, sunflower seeds, and safflower were the five main items imported by the Islamic Republic.

EF/