“More than 260,000 tons of this amount pertained to grains, indicating a 126% hike YOY,” Abdolkarim Darvishzadeh was also quoted as saying by the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.
The main goods transported via rail over the three-month period were essential goods, including corn, wheat and oilcake as well as charcoal and aluminum sheets.
Also known as necessity goods, essential goods are products consumers will buy, regardless of changes in income levels.
Imam Khomeini Port enjoys 120 kilometers of railroads within its premises. Last year (March 2019-20), some 3 million tons of goods were transported from this port using around 53,000 tons.
The port was the second busiest port of Iran in the last fiscal year that ended on March 19, 2020, after Shahid Rajaee Port, as it handled more than 44.15 million tons of commodities, registering a 13.26% increase YOY.
Non-oil goods accounted for 29.45 million tons and oil products for over 14.7 million tons of the total throughput in Imam Khomeini Port, registering an 18.88% and 3.46% growth respectively year-on-year.
Imam Khomeini Port is the main hub for the import of essential goods.
By May 31, a total of 4.17 million tons of essential goods had been unloaded at Iranian ports, of which Imam Khomeini Port accounted for more than 3 million tons, according to Mehrdad Jamal-Arvanaqi, the deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
The official added that remaining imported essential goods, including wheat, corn, oilseeds, barley, sugar, vegetable oils and soybeans, had been unloaded at the ports of Shahid Rajaee, Amirabad, Shahid Bahonar, Bushehr, Khorramshahr, Noshahr and Fereydounkenar.
“About 559,000 tons of essential goods are being discharged at Imam Khomeini Port, 5,500 tons at Anzali Port and 9,743 tons at Amirabad Port. In all, 16 vessels are unloading 574,427 tons of essential goods at these three ports,” he was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
A total of 25.09 million tons of essential goods worth close to $15.5 billion were imported into Iran during the last fiscal year (March 2019-20) to register a 20.77% and 17.13% increase in weight and value respectively compared with the year before, according to the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs administration, Rouhollah Latifi, ISNA reported.
“This amount of essential goods’ imports accounted for 71% and 35% of the volume and value of last year’s total imports respectively,” he said.
“The imported essential commodities included wheat, sugar, corn, rubber, barley, processed tea, rice, different kinds of seeds, red meat, soybeans, pulses, paper, fertilizers and industrial machinery.”