Iran’s annual food, agricultural trade hits $18.4b

Iran exported $5.2 billion worth of food and agricultural products and imported $13.2 billion worth of the products in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2014, according to the Iranian Customs Administration statistics.

Food and agricultural trade accounted for 20.2 percent of the country’s total non-oil trade in the past Iranian calendar year, ISNA quoted Kaveh Zargaran, the secretary general of the association of Iranian food industries, as saying on Saturday.

Pistachios, tomato paste, yoghurt, ice cream, fruit juice, candies and biscuits, as well as cheese were the main items exported from Iran, he said. Rice, soy meal, corn fodder, unrefined sugar, frozen meat, banana, and packed butter were the main items imported to Iran, he added.

Iran’s non-oil exports grew by 10.4 percent in the first month of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-April 20), compared to the same month last year.

The country exported 6.236 million tons of non-oil products, including gas condensates, valued at $2.824 billion, showing a 5.45 percent rise in weight and 10.4 percent growth in value, compared to the same month last year.

Meanwhile, the country imported 2.644 million tons of products, valued at $2.514 billion, in the mentioned period of time, indicating a 39.74 percent rise in weight and 21.53 percent growth in value, compared to the same month last year.

Iran’s non-oil exports witnessed nearly half-a-percent growth while the country’s imports dropped around five percent in the previous Iranian calendar year, according to Press TV.