VP: Iran’s Non-Oil Exports Rise 20 Percent in 5 Months

Iranian First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri hailed the eye-catching increase in Iran’s non-oil exports in the first five months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2014-August 22, 2014).
“Iran’s non-oil exports showed a 20-percent rise in the first five months of the current year (started March 21) as compared with the corresponding period in the last year,” Jahangiri said, addressing a meeting held to study the pending projects in Tehran on Tuesday.

He pointed to the regional countries as one of Iran’s biggest target markets, and said, “The Asian, African and Latin American countries are appropriate markets where we can be present.

Jahangiri called on the country’s private sector to play a more active role in non-oil exports.

Earlier this year, Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh announced that the country 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 (will end March 20, 2015), Nematzadeh said, addressing a ceremony for inauguration of an investment project in Tehran.

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.