Iran�s customs office figures show exports from the country rose by 40% in 9 months to late December.

Figures by the Iranian customs office (IRICA) show that non-oil exports from the country rose by 40% year on year in the nine months to December 21.

IRICA�s newly appointed chief Alireza Moghaddasi said on Tuesday that the value of exports from Iran over the March-December period had reached a total of $35.1 billion.

Moghadasi said that the figure had exceeded the total annual value of exports recorded at the end of the year to late March.

It is expected that by keeping this export trend the figure would reach $47 billion at the end of the (calendar) year, said the official.

IRICA figures showed that petrochemical sales had accounted for 42% or $14.7 billion worth of the Iranian non-oil exports over the March-December period as shipments rose by 40% year on year.

China was the top customer of the Iranian overseas shipments in the nine months to late December with $10.2 billion worth of purchases, followed by Iraq at $6.8 billion and Turkey at $4.1 billion. Exports to the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan reached $3.4 billion and $1.4 billion respectively, said Moghaddasi.

On the nine-month imports figures, the IRICA chief said that shipments had risen by 37% in value terms to reach a total of $37 billion in late December.

The official said that the UAE, the top re-exporting hub in the Persian Gulf, had remained the largest supplier of goods to Iran over the period with $11.5 billion of exports, followed by China at $8.4 billion and Turkey $3.7 billion.

He said that Germany and Switzerland were the fourth and fifth largest exporters into Iran ever the period as their shipments rose in value terms to reach $1.4 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively.