BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 2
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
Despite US sanctions and various obstacles, Iran's exports of non-oil products hit new records in the first 10 months (from March 21, 2019 to Jan. 20, 2020) of the current Iranian year, Iranian Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance and Director General of the country's Customs Administration (IRICA) Mehdi Mirashrafi said, Trend reports with reference to IRICA.
In the last 10 months, Iran exported 115.3 million tons of non-oil products, which is a record indicator, Mirashrafi said.
The deputy minister added that Iran imported 28.6 million tons of goods in the reported 10-month period.
About 100 countries had either direct or indirect trade with Iran in the reported period, according to the deputy minister.
Iran's total trade turnover with various countries in the reported period exceeded $72 billion, the deputy minister said adding that the monetary value of Iran's exports in the 10-month period exceeded $35.5 billion, while the value of imports was over $36 billion.
Iran's exports increased by 20 percent in terms of weight, but decreased by 3 percent in monetary terms, Mirashrafi said.
The reason behind the dropping monetary value of exports is that the initial USD value of the exports is decreased by 30 percent with the aim of supporting Iranian exporters, the deputy minister noted.
Otherwise, the monetary value of Iran's non-oil exports would be about $9 billion more, he added.
The US imposed sanctions on Iran in November 2018 and expanded them in several stages. The US sanctions has had grave impact on Iranian economy.