6.2% surge in Iran’s non-oil exports in first half of Feb.

IRICA spokesman Rouhollah Latifi said on Saturday that total value of non-oil exports from Iran in the 11^th month of the current Iranian calendar year had reached $3.135 billion, up by $184 million against the previous month.

Imports declined by $50 million or 1.32 percent compared to the month ending late January to stand at $3.682 billion, said Latifi.

That comes against a 19-percent month-on-month drop recorded for exports in the month to late January.

Total value of non-oil exports from Iran for the 11-month period between late March last year and late February this year had amounted to $31.198 billion, said Latifi, adding that the country had imported $34.3 billion worth of goods over the same period.

Exports and imports grew by size in the month to late February to reach $6.817 billion in total, an increase of 1.24 percent month on month.

China remained the top importer of Iranian goods over the same month with $845 million worth of purchases, followed by Iraq at $477 million and the United Arab Emirates at $441 million.

The three countries along Afghanistan and Turkey accounted for 70 percent of all purchases in value terms and 60 percent of the weight of the export cargoes, said Latifi.

Top three exporters into Iran in the month to February 18 included the UAE with $1.061 billion worth of supplies, followed by China at $908 million and Turkey at $426 million. The three along Germany and India were responsible for 76 percent of the value of the cargoes imported into Iran, said the IRICA spokesman.