Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan.9/ Trend, F. Milad
The country's foreign trade volume exceeded 73 billion dollars during the first nine months of the current Iranian Calendar year, which began March 20, 2012, deputy director of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran said on Wednesday.
Exports accounted for 32 billion dollars of the mentioned amount, the IRNA News Agency quoted Kioumars Fathollah Kermanshahi as saying.
Iran's exports faced a 44.1% decrease compared to the same time span during the previous year, he added, noting that the country's non-oil exports increased 28% compared to previous year.
Iran exported some 58.3 million tons of non-oil goods during the mentioned period.
The Islamic Republic's non-oil exports mainly include gas condensate, mineral fuels, chemical products, plastics, fruits, nuts, carpets and fertilizers.
Iraq, China, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, and India were the top importers of Iranian goods during this time period, while the United Arab Emirates, China, Turkey, South Korea, and Switzerland were the leading exporters of goods to Iran.
Iranian Customs Administration Director Abbas Memarnejad said in December that the country is currently conducting trade with 151 countries.
He referred to liquefied propane, urea, methanol, and cement as Iran's major exported goods and iron and steel ingots, wheat, and soy meal as the main imported ones.
At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Iranian Central Bank.