Azerbaijan, Baku, Apr. 3/ Trend F.Milad/
Iran managed to scale up trade with 160 countries in the past calendar year, which ended on March 19, despite the global economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic, the Customs Administration head Abbas Memarnejad said on Tuesday.
Memarnejad said non-oil trade balance decreased to $17.9 billion last calendar year from $30.5 billion the year before.
He added that exports rose by 28 percent year on year, while imports declined by 4 percent.
Iran exported around $43.7 billion worth of non-oil goods in the past calendar year, and imported some $61.8 billion worth of goods, to hit the unprecedented mark of $105 billion in annual trade.
On March 16, Trade Promotion Organization director Hamid Safdel said Iran's main non-oil exports are gas condensates, petrochemical products and engineering services, amounting to $9 billion, $13 billion, and $4 billion respectively.
Other exports, including carpets, handicrafts and agricultural goods such as nuts, were valued at about $17 billion.
First Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi announced in January that Iran's overall non-oil trade balance is anticipated to reach zero in the next Iranian calendar year.
China, UAE, and Iraq were respectively the main destinations for the Iranian goods, while, UAE, China and South Korea, in order, were the main exporters to Iran during the last calendar year.