A trade surplus of $760 million was recorded in the first month of the Iranian calendar year (March 21-April 20) according to data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), which put the total trade in non-oil goods including gas condensates during the period at $4.7 billion.
The total volume of non-oil trade registered during the same month in the previous year was $5.3 billion when $310 million surplus was recorded, IRNA reported.
Exports declined 7.77% compared with the similar period of the previous year to reach $2.7 billion, while imports dropped 23% to $1.971 billion.
Among the three main categories of ‘petrochemical products, gas condensates and other commodities,’ the first group experienced 18.81% surge in total value of exports while the last two recorded 34.85% and 7.77% decline respectively.
Petrochemical products worth $1.14 billion and gas condensates worth $523 million were exported, accounting for 41.89% and 19.13% of total exports respectively. All other commodities accounted for 38.97% of total exports, registering $1.064 billion in export value.
Exports and Destinations
Low-density polyethylene (6.25%), liquefied propane (5.45%) and bitumen (4.94%) were the main goods exported during the month.
China was the major export destination, accounting for $641 million or 29.02% of total export value. Iraq came next with more than $375 million (16.97%) imports, followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), buying more than $333 million (15.1%) of the Iranian goods. India and Afghanistan were other major importing countries with $155 million (7.02%) and $145 million (6.58%) imports respectively.
Imports and Sources
The five main commodities imported during the period include corn for cattle feed (5.28%), barley (2.75%), rice (2.41%), heavy machinery/ equipments (1.93%) and unripe bananas (1.65%).
The majority of Iran’s imports during the period came from five countries, namely: China, the UAE, South Korea, Turkey, and India.
China accounted for 22.8% of Iran’s total imports during the period, with imports from the country amounting to $449 million. The UAE came second with a share of 20.26% and $399 million worth of exports. South Korea’s exports amounted to $188 million, making up for a share of 9.53%. Turkey with a share of 9.32% or $184 million and India with a share of 7.73% or $152 million were the fourth and fifth major exporters respectively.
Customs Revenues Up
Meanwhile, head of IRICA Masoud Karbasian on Wednesday announced that customs revenues increased by 65% over the past Iranian calendar year, “despite only 6% growth in the volume of imports.”
Speaking at an educational workshop for customs officials and financial experts, the official said establishing a comprehensive administrative and financial system to handle the customs-related services played a significant role in the increase, IRNA reported.
