Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Italy has joined to Iran's top ten non-oil export partners after several years, Valiollah Afkhami Rad, the Islamic Republic's deputy industry, mines and trade minister said.
Some 1.5 percent of Tehran's exported none-oil goods went to Italy during the first three months of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21-June 20), making Italy 9th among Iran's top 10 none-oil export destinations, Afkhami Rad said, Iran's Mehr news agency reported June 20.
He did not unveiled exact figures for the exports.
Meanwhile Iranian Customs Administration is expected to publish its latest monthly report in the next several days.
Iran exported $81 million worth of goods to Italy during the first two months of current fiscal year(March 21-May 22), meanwhile imported $137.9 million worth goods from it during the mentioned period.
Afkhami Rad underlined that Iranian goods are paving the way to European markets gradually, forecasting that once the international sanctions against the Islamic Republic are removed, Iranian exports to the EU would sharply rise.
"Considering the close affinity between Iranian and European industry, we will be able to export more significant volume of our products to the EU," the Iranian official underlined.
European markets shared 4.5 percent of Iran's total non-oil exports' value during the first two months of current Iranian fiscal year (March 21-May 22).
Iran's exports to Europe registered a 3.9 percent rise in terms of value year on year and stood at $242 million during the period. Meanwhile, the European countries exported $1.251 billion worth of goods to Iran during the two-month period, 8.8 percent less compared the same period of preceding year.
Iran's imports from Europe accounted for 19.7 percent of the country's total imports' value.
Afkhami Rad further said that China is still Iran's top trade partner, adding that Tehran's exports to China accounted for 26 percent of Iran's total none-oil exports from the beginning of current Iranian fiscal year in terms of value.
Iraq was Iranian goods' second destination with 17 percent share of total exports, the official said.
The Islamic Republic's non-oil exports (excluding condensates) stood at $5.393 billion during first two months of current Iranian fiscal year (March 21-May 22), while imports accounted for $6.344 billion.
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