Deputy Managing Director of Iran’s Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization (ISIPO) Asqar Masaheb said on Monday that Iranian SMEs exports worth $1.5 billion in the first seven months of the current year, adding that the figure stood at $1,040,000,000 in the corresponding period in last year.

This volume of products was exported by 900 industrial and production units based in industrial parks, he added.

As compared to the same period of last year, the number of exporting companies has reduced this year due to the export restrictions but their export volume registered a hike, Masaheb added.

Some $1,030,000,000 worth of products were exported by SMEs in the first half of the current year (from March 21 to Sept. 22), showing more than 30 percent hike as compared to the last year’s corresponding period.

Food products, home appliances, polymer and plastic materials, chemicals and leather products were of the main products exported by these companies in this period, he added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he pointed to the knowledge-based companies and startups in industrial parks and put the number of knowledge-based firms in these parks at 312.

He further noted that ISIPO has thrown its weight behind knowledge-based companies and startups in three fields of infrastructure, development of technology, commercialization and market development.

On Saturday, Iranian Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari censured the country’s dependence on oil revenues, and urged for more technology-oriented economic activities.

Speaking on a visit to the Northern province of Mazandaran, Sattari criticized oil economies for their incapability, saying that nowadays, the price of a barrel of oil is lower than a bottle of perfume.

“Development with an oil economy is impossible, and we must all realize that dependency on oil revenues will get nowhere,” he added.

The official urged for a technology-based economy, saying that “today, no country is going to oil-rich countries for technology”.

The vice president pointed out that pharmaceuticals is one of the most important areas that knowledge-based companies are involved in Iran, adding that 98% of the country’s human medicines are produced domestically.

He added big steps have been taken by the knowledge-based firms in the area of veterinary pharmacy and nutrition industry.

Last month, Governor of the Central bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnasser Hemmati announced that the country has further reduced its reliance on oil revenues to bring the share of the income earned though crude sales in the budget to less than 30 percent.