TEHRAN (Iran News) – The value of Iran’s exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states rose 48 percent in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-August 22) compared to the figure for the same period last year, ILNA reported.
According to the Secretary of the ASEAN trade promotion Desk at the Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Mohsen Rezaei-Pour, the Islamic Republic’s export to the mentioned union reached $1.076 billion in the said five months.
The official noted that Thailand was the top export destination for Iranian goods among the ASEAN member states in the mentioned five months, importing 395,000 tons of commodities worth $266 million.
As reported, exports to Thailand rose 88 percent in terms of value compared to the same period last year.
The top exported items to Thailand include steel ingots, steel sections, zinc, chicken viscera, bitumen, and Vaseline, Rezaei-Pour said.
During the period under review, Indonesia was Iran’s second-largest export destination in this union; the Islamic Republic exported 352,000 tons of goods worth $227 million to this country, according to the official.
The exports to Indonesia increased by 29 percent in terms of value compared to the same period last year, however, the figure decreased by 30 percent in terms of weight.
Rezaei-Pour put the country’s trade with the ASEAN union in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20) at $3 billion, saying that the increase in exports in the mentioned five months is an indication that the level of trade with the union is expected to follow an upward trend in the current year.
He pointed out that Iran’s top imported items from this union include sugarcane, palm oil, soybeans, food products, rice, home appliances, medium-density fiber, and mobile phones.
ASEAN is an economic union comprising 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, and sociocultural integration among its members and other countries in Asia.
