Golestan exports exceed $220m

Gonbad-e Kavous, Golestan Prov. Dec 31, IRNA - Golestan province has exported $224.83m worth of goods during March 21-December 21, 2014, said the director general of the province’s customs office. Ali Akbar Shamani made the announcement on Tuesday, adding that the figure shows a 30-percent rise compared to the corresponding figure of last year, which was $172.94m. The official put exports at 368.55m kilograms, indicating an 84-percent growth year-on-year, which was 200.3m kilograms. He listed the export items as cheese, frozen chicken, tomato paste, polyethylene pipes, poultry feed, cement and concrete beams. Shamani said Iran’s export destinations are Turkmenistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, China, Malaysia, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, India, Russia, Armenia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, Indonesia and Vietnam. He added that in this period, Turkmenistan and Iraq with $126.91m and $62.5m respectively (56.45 percent and 27.8 percent of the total exports) were Iran’s first and second main importers in terms of value. Shamani noted that the province has customs offices in Incheh-Boroun, Bandar Torkaman, Gorgan and Gonbad-e Kavous. “In the same period, the province imported 5.5m kilograms worth $10.88m, showing a 5-percent and 20-percent decline in terms of weight and value respectively year-on-year. Last year’s figures amounted to 5.77m kilograms and $13.6m respectively. Shamani put the value of each kilogram of imports at $2 in the said time-span, down by 3 cents compared with last year’s figure of $2.3. “Importers included China, Turkey, the UAE, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Germany, Slovenia, Italy and India. China with $4.77m was Iran’s main exporter in terms of value,” he said. According to the official, import items were rice, iodine and electronic and industrial machinery. Valiollah Hayati, governor general of Khorramshahr in Khuzestan province, said since March 21, 2014, the city exported $900m worth of non-oil products from its land and marine borders./end