A total of 2.3 million tons of non-oil goods worth $964 million have been exported from the western province of Kurdestan since the beginning of the current Iranian year on March 20, registering a 55% and 12% rise in weight and value respectively.
According to a provincial customs official, Bakhtiar Rahmanpour, more than $30 million worth of goods have been imported from Kurdestan during the same period, IRNA reported.
Kurdestan has three official border crossings of Sanandaj in the provincial capital, Bashmaq in Marivan Country and Siraband in Baneh County.
Notably, Bashmaq ranked first in goods transit among all Iranian border crossings from March 20 to Aug. 21
A total of 479,195 tons of commodities worth $1 billion were transited through Bashmaq during the period.
According to Rahmanpour, 90% of Kurdestan Province's foreign trade pass through Bashmaq.
Bashmaq is one of the few border crossings that has been open all along, despite the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Iraq closed its international borders and provincial boundaries in March except for the delivery of essential goods such as food, as it sought to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Amid restrictions imposed by the Iraqi government on cross-border trade due to the spread of the new coronavirus, Iran directed the bulk of its exports to the neighboring country through borders with the Iraqi Kurdistan, namely Bashmaq, Parvizkhan and Tamarchin, which have been open all along the coronavirus pandemic.
However, it was announced recently that three border crossings with Iraq, namely Chazzabeh and Shalamcheh in southern Khuzestan Province and Mehran in the western Ilam Province, have reopened for exports during all weekdays as of Sept. 12.
