TEHRAN - Iran’s non-oil exports have surged by a whopping 69 percent in the quarter ending 21 June compared to the same period last year, reaching $10.7 billion in total value, fresh statistics by Iran’s customs office revealed.
IRICA chief Mehdi Mir Asharafi said that non-crude exports from Iran had surged by 69% in the quarter to June 21 to a total of $10.7 billion in value terms.
Mir Ashrafi said that the weight of cargoes sent from Iran over the same quarter had risen by 38% year on year.
China remained the top destination for Iranian exports over the period as customers in the East Asian country bought $3.1 billion worth of goods and products from Iran, said Mir Ashrafi, adding that Iraq came second on the list on $2.3 billion worth of purchases followed by the United Arab Emirates at $1.3 billion.
IRICA chief said Iran had a trade surplus of $476 million in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. He added that the total trade for the quarter had amounted to $20.9 billion, up $7 billion against last year.
However, Mir Ashrafi said that imports into Iran also had increased by 34% year on year for the same period to a total of $10.2 billion.
The UAE was the top exporter to Iran over the quarter with some $3.2 billion worth of supplies, followed by China at $2.2 billion and Turkey at $1 billion, he said, according to remarks covered in the official IRNA news agency.
Germany and Switzerland came fourth and fifth on the list of top exporters into Iran over the same period as they supplied $414 million and $384 million worth of goods to Iranian customers, respectively, he said.