Non-Oil Exports up
TEHRAN (Aug. 2) XINHUA - Iran's non-oil exports scored a 33 percent
increase in the first four months of the country's calendar year (starting
March 21) over the same period of last year, said a customs official on
Monday.
The total value of non-oil exports during the period amounted to 1,813
billion rials (about 1.055 billion U.S. dollars), said Mehdi Karbasian,
head of the Customs Administration.
On the other hand, he said that Iran's imports in the same period stood
at 5.9 million tons, valued at 7,653 billion rials (about 4.361 billion
dollars), up by 13 and 16 percent in terms of weight and value respectively
from a year earlier.
He said that the imports included tools and machinery, iron ware, cooking
oil, electric equipment, chemicals, sugar and raw material, which made
up 52.1 percent of the total imports volume.
"The non-oil goods with the highest export value were chemicals,
worth 110 million dollars, pistachios, 128 million dollars, and rugs,
63 million dollars," he said, quoted by the official Islamic Republic
News Agency.
He said border trade and carry-on luggage trade are now contributing
to the increase in non-oil exports, a sector which draws more and more
attention as the country tries to diversify exports other than oil, its
economic mainstay.
In the Iranian month of Tir (June 22 to July 22) alone, the country
generated 8.7 million dollars through border trade exports and 7.9 million
dollars through carry-on luggage trade, said the official.
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