Iran’s non-oil exports exceeded $1.36 billion in the first quarter of the current Iranian year, which started March 21, according to the deputy head of marketing for the Export Promotion Center of Iran (EPCI).
“The sum is unprecedented, compared to the corresponding periods in the first and second five-year development plans,” Ayatollah Soltani told the official Iranian news agency, IRNA.
The commerce department reported that the figure included $14.1 million in carry-on luggage sold to central Asian countries, as well as foreign exchange receipts for technical and engineering services valued at $51 million. Soltani said industrial goods' share of total exports rose from 4 percent in 1996 to 66 percent in the first quarter of this year.
“The value of the non-oil exports, excluding petrochemicals is $347.4 million,” Soltani stated.
He said the value of agricultural exports exceeded $160.3 million, of which pistachios, with a 46 percent growth compared to the first quarter of last year, ranked first. He added that pistachio exports amounted to 23,300 tons with a value of $75.1 million.
As compared to last year, he said, the export trend was positive, as a result of greater emphasis on product quality.
“Slowing inflation, strengthening the national currency, increasing hard currency reserves and liberalizing the export regime have been effective policies in improving the non-oil exports,” the official noted – Albawaba.com
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