IRICA data published on Saturday showed that Iran’s non-oil exports reached a total of $28.406 billion in the seven months to October 22, up by 5.6% compared with the same period last year.
The figures showed that the total weight of Iranian export shipments had amounted to 61.283 million metric tons (mt) over March-October, a decline of 18.2% year on year.
Oil products and metals accounted for a bulk of exports from Iran in the seven months to late October, said IRICA spokesman Morteza Emadi.
Emadi said China was the largest customer of Iranian exports in March-October with some $9.181 billion worth of purchases, followed by Iraq at $4.029 billion and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at $3.476 billion.
IRICA data showed that imports into Iran rose by 14.4% to $31.727 billion in the seven months to late October.
That comes as shipments fell by 15.7% in volume terms to a total of 19.747 million mt over the same period, according to the same data.
The Iranian customs figures showed that the UAE had been the largest exporter to Iran over the March-October period with $9.435 worth of sales, followed by China at $8.284 billion and Turkey at $3.218 billion.