Iran’s customs office (IRICA) has updated figures related to the country’s foreign trade, saying that declined exports in the eight months to November 20 led to a deficit of $1.6 billion in the balance of trade.
IRICA chief Mehdi Mir Ashrafi said on Monday that total trade between Iran and other countries in the first eight months of the current calendar year beginning March 20, 2020 had reached $44.6 billion for 97.7 million metric tons of cargoes.
Mir Ashrafi said imports into Iran stood at $23.1 billion for 21.8 million tons of goods, a decline of 18 percent in value terms compared to the similar period in 2019.
He said basic goods accounted for nearly 75 percent of all shipments imported into Iran in the eight months to late November.
The official said Iran’s exports decreased 19 percent year on year in November to $21.5 billion, adding that the weight of the exported cargoes were nearly 75 million tons or three times the amount of shipments imported into Iran over the same period.
Iraq remained the top destination for Iranian exports over the period as it took delivery of $5.3 billion worth of Iranian shipments, said Mir Asharafi, adding that China trailed closely at nearly the same figure while the United Arab Emirates came third with $2.7 billion worth of imports from Iran.
IRICA chief expressed hope that trade would boom in the remaining months of the current calendar year ending March 2021, saying restrictions meant to curb the spread of the coroanvirus are beginning to ease both in Asia and in countries in the Middle East region.
Iran has relied on non-oil exports as a major source of earning hard currency at a time crude shipments have declined because of American sanctions on the country.