Azerbaijan, Baku, Mar.18/ Trend F.Milad
Iran's overall trade is expected to reach 94 billion dollar by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), Director of Iranian Customs Administration Abbas Memarnejad said on Monday.
Exports will account for 42 billion dollars of the above-mentioned amount, the IRNA News Agency quoted Memarnejad as saying.
He went on to note that Iran's mineral and industrial exports faced a 28 per cent increase compared to the preceding year.
Iran holds three per cent of the world's mineral reserves putting the country first in the Middle East and third in Asia.
Iran is ranked among the 15 major mineral-rich countries of the world and exports its industrial and mineral products to 159 countries, including Iraq, China, the United Arab Emirates, India and Afghanistan.
The important Iranian mines include coal, metallic minerals, sand and gravel, chemical minerals and salt. Iran has the world's largest zinc and second largest copper deposits and ranks ninth for its iron reserves.