Official figures show Iran had a trade surplus of $2 billion over a period of eight months starting 21 March 2018 in what could be an indication that the country’s economy is still doing well in face of US sanctions.
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Figures released by the Customs Department showed that Iran’s non-oil exports over the same period stood at $31.4 billion which was higher than the corresponding period last year by around 13 percent.
The Customs Department announced in a statement that Iran’s imports also lowered by 12.5 percent to reach $29.5 billion.
Iran’s leading export item was condensate which fetched the country $2.7 billion. This accounted for around 9 percent of the country’s overall non-oil exports, the statement added.
Other key export items included liquefied propane ($1.3 billion), light oil products excluding gasoline ($1.1 billion) and methanol ($1 billion).
Figures showed that the majority of Iran’s non-oil exports were petrochemical products (33 percent).
As for the imports, the leading items were feed corn ($1.2 billion). Other key items included auto parts ($1.1 billion), rice ($1.1 billion), and soy beans ($0.9 billion).
The top export destination for Iran’s non-oil products was Iraq which imported $6.7 billion worth of products from the Islamic Republic over the period.
The Customs Department said in its statement that exports to Iraq saw a whopping rise of 66.5 percent compared to the same period last year.
Next key destinations for exports of Iranian products were China ($6.4 billion), the UAE ($5.9 billion) and Afghanistan ($2.2 billion).
Also, leading exports to Iran were China ($7.3 billion), the UAE ($4.4 billion), South Korea ($1.7 billion) and India ($1.6 billion).