TEHRAN - Iran’s non-oil foreign trade reached $117 billion in the first 11 months of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2024 – February 19, 2025), marking an 11.2 percent increase compared to the same period last year, according to Foroud Asgari, Deputy Economy Minister and Head of Iran’s Customs Administration.

The total weight of non-oil trade during this period stood at 176.1 million tons, up 9.2% year-on-year, Tasnim News Agency reported.

Of the total trade volume, $53.38 billion was attributed to non-oil exports—excluding electricity, technical and engineering services, and suitcase trade—while imports accounted for $63.61 billion. Exports rose by 19 percent, and imports grew by 5.6 percent compared to the previous year.

Iran exported 141 million tons of goods and imported 35 million tons during the 11-month period. The volume of exports increased by 12.6 percent, while imports declined by 2.6 percent.

Petrochemical exports totaled 58.5 million tons, valued at $23.5 billion, representing a 29 percent increase in volume and a 31.3 percent rise in value. The three top exported commodities were natural gas worth $6.6 billion, liquefied propane at $3.3 billion, and methanol at $2.1 billion. The average customs value of each ton of exported goods rose by 5.4 percent to $378.

China, Iraq, the UAE, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India were Iran’s main export destinations, accounting for 82 percent of export volume and 83 percent of total export value. China was the largest destination with $13.8 billion in imports from Iran, followed by Iraq with $11.2 billion, the UAE with $6.6 billion, Turkey with $6.4 billion, Afghanistan with $2.2 billion, Pakistan with $2.2 billion, and India with $1.8 billion.

Iran’s three main imported commodities were raw gold worth $7.3 billion, animal feed corn at $2.7 billion, and smartphones at $2.1 billion.

The average customs value of each ton of imported goods rose by 8.4 percent to $1,814. The country’s top import sources were the UAE at $19.1 billion, China at $16.6 billion, Turkey at $11.1 billion, Germany at $2.1 billion, India at $1.4 billion, Russia at $1.2 billion, and Hong Kong at $1.2 billion.

EF/MA