TEHRAN- The value of non-oil export from East Azarbaijan province, in the northwest of Iran, rose 37 percent during the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-July 21), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, an official with the province’s Customs Department announced.

Sadeq Namdar said that 1.317 million tons of non-oil goods worth $637.497 million were exported from the province in the four-month period of this year, with a 51-percent growth in weight, year on year.

He mentioned cast iron, iron and steel, petrochemical products and plastic products, mineral fuels and mineral oils, fruits, copper and copper products as the main exported items and Turkey, Armenia, Iraq, Georgia and Azerbaijan as the major export destinations.

As previously announced by Mohammad-Jafar Ozmaei, the director-general of the province’s Industry, Mining and Trade Department, Non-oil commodities valued at $1.542 billion were exported from East Azarbaijan province in the past Iranian calendar year 1402 (ended on March 19).

He said that East Azarbaijan was among the top provinces of the country in terms of non-oil export in the previous year.

As announced by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the country has exported non-oil goods worth $17.5 billion in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year, registering an 8.0-percent growth, year on year.

Mohammad Rezvanifar put the total value of the country’s non-oil trade in the mentioned four months at $36 billion.

According to the official, Iran imported $18.5 billion worth of non-oil products, about 6.0 percent less than the figure for the previous year’s corresponding period.

The country’s trade balance was $1.0 billion negative in the mentioned four months, indicating a significant decline compared to the previous year’s same period.

In the first four months of the previous Iranian year, the country’s export of non-oil goods stood at nearly $16 billion, while the imports during this period were about $19.5 billion. The trade balance of the country was negative $2.5 billion during this period.

MA