Iran's non-oil exports witnessing 21% growth

Head of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Valiollah Afkhamirad announced that the country's non-oil exports witnessed an eye-catching growth in the first four months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2014-July 22,

"Iran's non-oil exports saw a 21-percent growth in value and 13-percent growth in weight in the first four months of the current year," Afkhamirad said, addressing a press conference in Tehran on Sunday.
He noted that China ranks first with $3 billion worth of imports from Iran, and added, "Iraq with $1.85 billion worth of imports from Iran in the said period and the UAE with $1.235 billion ranked second and third, respectively."
Afkhamirad said that Iran imported 13.2 million tons of goods worth $17.6 billion in the said period showing 36 percent rise in value and 42 percent increase in weight compared with the figures pertaining to the same period in the last year.
Last month, Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh announced that the country plans to further increase its non-oil exports.
Iran plans to augment exports of its non-oil commodities to $50bln by the end of the current Iranian year (ending March 20), Nematzadeh said, addressing a ceremony for inauguration of an investment project in Tehran.
Iran exported approximately $11.859bln of non-oil commodities in the second 3 months of 2014, the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said earlier this month.
According to the IRICA data, Iran’s non-oil exports reached $11.859bln in the aforesaid three months, compared with $9.838bln in the same period last year, showing nearly 20.5 percent increase.
The country’s year-on-year imports also had a 35.6 percent growth in the past quarter, reaching $12.386bln from $9.133bln the same period last year.
Iran’s major exported items during the past quarter comprised liquefied propane, methanol and bitumen and the main export destinations, in descending order, were China, Iraq, the UAE, Afghanistan and Turkey.
The country’s major imports in the past three months included wheat, vehicles with Internal combustion engines, rice and soy oil cake, which mainly came from the UAE, China, India, Turkey and South Korea.