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Non-oil exports from Iran's Astara customs up by 70% last year

Oil&Gas Materials 3 April 2019 16:01 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 3

By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:

A 70-percent increase was observed in the exports of non-oil products from the customs of Astara County (located in Iran’s northern Gilan Province) last Iranian year (started March 21, 2018), Rasoul Omidi, head of Astara Customs Administration, told IRNA, Trend reports.

According to Omidi, 680,000 tons of non-oil products worth $307 million were exported from Astara customs last year, with most of the export items consisting of agricultural, chemical, mining, metal, and food products, as well as cement, gypsum, detergents, fabric, handicraft products, carpets, clothing, bags, shoes, construction materials and rubber.

"Non-oil products were exported to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia," he said.

He also said that 136,000 tons of goods worth $178 million were transited through the Astara customs last year, noting that an increase by 91 and 46 percent was observed in transit products in terms of weight and value, respectively (compared to the preceding year (started March 21, 2017)).

"Mainly wood, oil products, cotton, artificial fibers, iron bars, copper and glass wool were transited from Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia and Ukraine to Turkey, Iraq and the UAE," he said.

Omidi added that 7,501 tons of products worth $31 million were exported through informal trade from Iran last year, mainly to Azerbaijan. The products mainly consisted of food, rubber and agricultural products.

Last year, the number of people who crossed through Iranian customs was 1.22 million. An 85-percent increase was observed in the number of people leaving Iran, and an 84-percent increase was observed in the number of people coming to Iran.

According to Omidi, last year Astara customs generated a total of 785 billion rials (app. $18.6 million) – a 56-percent increase over the previous year.

With a population of 91,000, Astara County is located in the north-west of Iran's Gilan Province, on the border with Azerbaijan.

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