ECONOMIC IDEAL – Tehran, Jan 13, IRNA – Iran’s non-oil exports reached 86.9 million tons worth $33.3 billion, during March 21-December 21, 2018, witnessing a 5.4-percent growth in terms of value.
According to figures by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the country imported 23.8 million tons of goods valued at $32.62 billion in the same duration.
Iran’s nine-month imports indicated a 13.2-percent decrease and a 15.9-percent decline weight- and value-wise, respectively year-on-year.
The balance of Iran’s foreign trade in this period was $738 million in the favor of the country.
Iran’s exports destination in the same duration were Iraq, China, the UAE, Afghanistan and Turkey.
Importing $6.92 billion worth of goods, Iraq ranked first among Iran’s target markets in this period, accounting for 20.7 percent of the total value of the purchases from its eastern neighbor.
China stood second among the importers of Iranian items in the same timespan, purchasing $6.74 billion worth of products from the Middle Eastern state.
The UAE, Afghanistan and Turkey imported, respectively, $5.13 billion, $2.33 billion and $1.91 billion worth of Iranian products in the same nine-month period to rank third to fifth among Iran’s top export destinations.
Mineral exports
In this duration, the value of Iran’s mineral exports exceeded $7.2 billion, indicating a one-percent growth year-on-year and accounting for 22 percent of the country’s total nine-month overseas sales of non-oil products.
During the same period, Iran exported over 44.7 million tons of minerals, which – although witnessing a 10-percent drop year-on-year – constituted 51 percent of the country’s total nine-month non-oil exports weight-wise.
In this timespan, Iran exported 7.2 million tons of steel products worth over $3.4 billion, 11 percent and 36 percent higher than the figures for the same period last year in terms of weight and value respectively.
In the same nine-month period to December 21, the weight and value of Iran’s exports of copper and downstream products of the mining sector stood at 256,400 tons and $642.9 million respectively.
The figures indicated a 55-percent decline in terms of weight and an eight-percent rise value-wise compared to those of the same period a year ago.
Thus, exports of copper and downstream products in the same timespan accounted for nine percent of the domestic mining sector’s total overseas sales in terms of value.
Cement exports in this duration surpassed 12 million tons sold at $407.7 million, showing a one-percent growth and a nine-percent decrease in terms of weight and value correspondingly.
Iron ore concentrate exports in the same timespan amounted to over 4.7 million tons valued at $346.4 million.
These figures showed significant increases of 1,619 percent and 1,352 percent weight- and value-wise year-on-year.
In the same duration, Iran imported minerals valued at $2.5 billion, down 31 percent compared to the figure for the same period last year.
Iran’s mineral imports in the same duration weighed over 2.8 million tons, showing a 38-percent decline year-on-year.
Source: Iran Daily
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