According to Director General of South Khorasan Customs Administration Mohammad Ali Khashi, the exports mainly included vegetable, cement, distilled fuel, hydrocarbons, tiles and ceramics, gasoline, chickpeas, salt, eggs, glass, poultry feed and bituminous waterproofing.
Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Taiwan were the main destinations, IRNA reported.
Khashi noted that over the same period, around 356 tons of goods worth $872,079 were imported via the province’s customs terminals, registering a 75% and 97% year-on-year decline in tonnage and value respectively.
"The imports mainly included tile production machinery, alfalfa seeds, roasted hemp seeds, auto spare parts, sheep and coal from China and some neighboring countries,” he added.
The official also said that a total of 2,721 trucks transited around 96,845 tons of commodities through South Khorasan’s customs terminals in H1, marking a whopping rise of 3,528% and 4,814% in the number of transit fleet and tonnage respectively.
“The main transited goods consisted of motorcycles, cigarettes, edible oils, fertilizers, sugar, engine oil, solar panels and urea that were transited from Indonesia, China, Turkmenistan, India, the UAE, Russia and Turkey to Afghanistan.”
Khashi added that a total of 1,735 inbound and 1,923 outbound passengers commuted through the province’s customs terminals, indicating a 78% and 79% YOY decline respectively.
South Khorasan Province is located in the Iranian northwest and has two border checkpoints, namely Birjand and Mahiroud and four border markets of Dokohaneh, Mil 78, Mil 73 and Yazdan along 460 kilometers of border with Afghanistan, the province’s governorate said on its website.