Iran has exported 2.5 million tons of goods worth about $1.58 billion to the Caspian Sea littoral states in the first 11 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2023-February 19, 2024), registering a 20 percent rise year on year.
According to Kambiz Jahanbani, the managing director of the Khazar Shipping Company, a company that handles the shipping operations in the north of Iran, agricultural products accounted for 30 percent of the total exports via the Caspian Sea in the mentioned period.
Jahanbani said the cost of exports via sea is 40 percent less than land transportation, adding that Khazar Shipping Company is ready to export 30 percent of the agricultural products of the northern Iranian provinces via the Caspian Sea.
The official noted that 30 vessels are operating under the Khazar Shipping Company, whose total capacity stands at 120,000 tons.
According to him, in case of the exporters’ willingness, the Caspian Shipping Company can increase the number of refrigerator-equipped container vessels to 500 units during a 6-month to one-year program and move up to 3,000 containers or 65,000 tons per year.
The value of Iran’s foreign trade including oil and technical engineering services reached $138.8 billion in the first 11 months of the current Iranian calendar year, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said.
According to Mohammad Rezvanifar, the value of the Islamic Republic’s trade with the partners in the mentioned 11 months increased by 2.7 percent compared to the same period last year, IRNA reported.
The official put the country’s non-oil exports, excluding exports of electricity, crude oil, and techno-engineering services, at 124.7 million tons worth $44.8 billion which shows an 11.42 percent rise in terms of tonnage and an 8.87 percent decline in terms of value.
He said that Iran’s foreign trade, including oil exports, has registered a $19 billion surplus while seeing a $15 billion deficit without petrodollars.
Iran exported $32.59 billion of crude oil and $1.9 billion of technical engineering services in the first 11 months of this year, according to Rezvanifar.
During this period, liquefied natural gas with $3.0 billion, liquefied propane with $2.8 billion, and methanol with $2.0 billion were Iran’s top exported items.
