Iran Exports Triple despite Coronavirus Epidemic
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The total volume of Iranian exports over the past month has tripled despite the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, the spokesman for the Customs Office said.
From the beginning of the Iranian month of Esfand (February 20), more than 7.073 million tons of goods, valued at $2.237 billion, have been exported mainly via the country's sea borders, Seyed Ruhollah Latifi said on Wednesday.
During the first 25 days of this month, the volume of imports amounted to 2.45 million tons, worth $3.063 billion, he added.
The spokesman went on to say that although there have been some ups and downs in Iran's border trade with Turkey and Iraq during this period, the exports have tripled in terms of tonnage.
Earlier this week, the latest data released by the country’s Customs Office showed the total value of Iran’s trade transactions with foreign countries during the first 11 months of the current Iranian year (March 2019 – March 2020) has neared $80 billion.
Iran’s foreign trade during the first 11 months of the current Iranian year reached $78 billion, $38bln of which were exports and about $40bln were imports, the Customs Office announced.
In the 11-month period, the non-oil exports reached over 125 million tons in terms of weight, indicating 17.61% increase compared to the same period last year.
Over the past 11 months, Iran imported about $40 billion worth of goods, weighing 32 million tons, the report said.
First detected in Wuhan city in central China in December, the coronavirus has spread to more than 140 countries.
More than 200,000 have been infected globally, according to the WHO. Of those, about 80,000 have recovered.
In Iran, medical staffs in all 31 provinces have been working tirelessly over the past weeks to contain the virus.
