Iran Exports $66mln Non-Oil Goods from Aras Free Trade Zone in 3 Months

"We exported USD 66 million worth of goods in the first quarter of the current year," Arab Baqi said.

He noted that non-oil exports from AFTZ witnessed a 144 percent growth during the said period as compared with last year's corresponding period.

"The destinations of the non-oil exports from the Aras Free Trade Zone were Pakistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, the UAE and Germany," Arab Baqi said.  

Iran exported approximately $11.859bln of non-oil commodities in the second 3 months of 2014, the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said earlier this month.

According to the IRICA data, Iran’s non-oil exports reached $11.859bln in the aforesaid three months, compared with $9.838bln in the same period last year, showing nearly 20.5 percent increase.

The country’s year-on-year imports also had a 35.6 percent growth in the past quarter, reaching $12.386bln from $9.133bln the same period last year.

Iran’s major exported items during the past quarter comprised liquefied propane, methanol and bitumen and the main export destinations, in descending order, were China, Iraq, the UAE, Afghanistan and Turkey.

The country’s major imports in the past three months included wheat, vehicles with Internal combustion engines, rice and soy oil cake, which mainly came from the UAE, China, India, Turkey and South Korea.

Last week, Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh announced the country's plans to further increase its non-oil exports.

Iran plans to augment exports of its non-oil commodities to $50bln by the end of the current Iranian year (ending March 20), Nematzadeh said, addressing a ceremony for inauguration of an investment project in Tehran.