Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 10
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Some 278 tons of clothing items worth $2.1 million were imported mainly from the UAE ($731,000), China ($608,000) and Germany ($277,000) to Iran during the first 10 months of the current solar year (starting on March 21, 2013).
According to the Iranian Custom Administration's latest report released on Feb. 10, imports of clothes decreased by 81.31 percent in weight and 87.3 percent in value in the 10-month period, compared to the same period of the preceding year.
Cigarette imports decreased by 11.64 percent
Iran has imported 8391 tons of cigarettes worth $75 million during the first 10 months of the current solar year which indicates a decrease of 11.64 percent in terms of value and a 0.63 percent increase in weight, compared to the same period of the last solar year.
Cigarettes were mainly imported from Turkey ($44.62 million), the UAE ($15.9 million) and Russia ($8.23 million) during the period.
Some 50-60 billion cigarettes are smoked in Iran per year, 40 billion of which are produced domestically, nine billion are imported legally and the rest smuggled, head of the Iranian Centre for Supervision over the consumption of tobacco products Shamseddin Nikmanesh said in August, 2013.
Meanwhile, the Iranian Tobacco Company Managing Director Masoum Najafian said in May that over 30 percent of cigarettes consumed in Iran have been smuggled.
Nearly 63.8 million cigarettes were smoked in Iran last year.
Mobile phone imports increased by 4.57 percent
Iran has imported $132.4 million worth of mobile phones during the first10 months of the current solar year which indicates an increase of 4.57 percent compared to the same period of the preceding year.
Iran imported $113.99 million worth of mobile phones during the first nine months of the current solar year.
Edited by S.M.