Iran’s customs office (IRICA) says that exports from the country rose by 61% in value terms in the first half of the calendar year that started in late March.
IRICA chief Mehdi Mir Ashrafi said on Monday that Iran’s exports had reached a total value of 21.8 billion in the six months to September 22.
Mir Ashrafi said that exports had also increased by 30% in volume terms over the same period to top 60 million metric tons.
China was the top customer of the Iranian goods and products in the March-September period with $6.5 billion worth of purchases, followed by Iraq at $3.8 billion and Turkey at $2.3 billion, he said.
Shipments to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan had amounted to $2.2 billion and $1 billion, respectively, showed IRICA figures.
Main goods and products exported from Iran between March and September included liquefied natural gas (LNG), methanol, polyethylene, steel and iron products, petrochemicals and gasoline, the customs data showed.
However, Mir Ashrafi said that Iran had a negative balance of trade in the first half of the current calendar year as imports into the country rose to $23.1 billion, up 37% against the similar period last year.
The UAE, the main re-exporting hub in the Persian Gulf, topped the list of exporters into Iran in March-September with $7.3 billion worth shipments. It was followed by China at $5 billion and Turkey at $2.4 billion.
Iran has maintained a stable flow of trade with other countries despite harsh sanctions imposed by the United States since 2018.
IRICA figures showed that Iran’s total value of trade recorded between late March and late September had increased by 47% compared to the similar period in 2020.