Non-Oil Exports From Bushehr Top $9.7b

A total of 25.5 million tons of non-oil goods, including gas condensates, worth $9.73 billion were exported from the southern port city of Bushehr during the first eight months of the current Iranian year (started March 21), the head of Bushehr Industries, Mining and Trade Organization said.

“Excluding gas condensates, non-oil exports amounted to 13.97 million tons worth $5.21 million that, in comparison with the same period of the preceding year, show a 3% rise in value and a 1% increase in weight,” Hossein Hosseini Mohammadi was also quoted as saying by IRNA.

Export destinations were South Korea, China, the UAE, India, Japan, Indonesia, Turkey, Kenya, Taiwan and Belgium.

The main non-oil goods exported from Bushehr were petrochemicals, fertilizers, cement and clinker, different types of fish and shrimp, sulfur, plaster and gypsum, watermelon and melon.

This is while 782,000 tons of goods worth $1.64 billion were imported into Bushehr during the same period.

The imported goods included cars, tires, bicycle and car spare parts, banana, rice, butter, toys, tea and cereals.

The goods were mainly imported from China, the UAE, the Philippines, South Korea, India, Ecuador, New Zealand, Japan, France and Kuwait.

With a 37-kilometer coastline alongside the Persian Gulf, Bushehr accounts for about half of Iran’s maritime trade.

The world’s largest container shipping company Maersk Line added the port of Bushehr to its Iran coverage earlier this year. The Danish carrier resumed services after relaunching calls to Bandar Abbas in October.

With an office in Tehran, the Iranian capital, Maersk said it selected the port because it is the largest gateway for transportation of goods in the province of Bushehr, with an annual throughput of 7 million tons.

The port of Bushehr can provide all containerized cargo services and, most significantly, refrigerated products.

Maersk Line is the global container division and the largest operating unit of Maersk Group, a Danish business conglomerate.

The company was founded in 1928.