According to a fax released here Sunday by the Public Relation Department of the Iranian Custom Office, the average price of the exported products was $68.7 per ton, which registered 28.2 percent decline compared with the same figure for the corresponding period a year earlier.
In spite of such breakdown, however, the report added that the above-mentioned figures show a 44.5 percent and 3.7 percent hike in terms of weight and value, respectively, compared to the corresponding period last year.
During the said period, exported mineral products accounted for 19.8 percent and 3.7 percent, in terms of weight and value respectively, of the total non-oil export worth of the current year, the report added.
Based on the Iranian Third Economic Development Plan (2000–2003), export of minerals, industrial, and petrochemical products is expected to be accounted for some $2,155 billion of the country’s total revenue for the past seven months of the current year, of which 94.6 percent has been reached, the report said.
The report also put the value of zinc concentrate and decorative stones such as marble at $21.6 million while molybdenum concentrate brought in $8.5 million.
Minerals products enjoy comparative advantage and great potential in the economy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which are quite likely to become a new growth point in the country’s foreign trades if the sector is strong enough to satisfy the officials.
AF/IS
END
MNA