Tehran, Aug 9, IFIF quoted from IRNA – Iran's trade balance has improved in food and agricultural products over the first three months of the Iranian year (started on March 21), Tehran Chamber of Commerce official Kaveh Zargaran said on Tuesday.

Kaveh Zargaran, the head of agricultural commission of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, said that Iran's imports of food and agricultural products have fallen over the three-month period compared to figures from the preceding period.

He said that Iran has exported some 512,000 tons of food and agricultural products worth over $1.05 billion in the mentioned period which shows an 11 percent increase in terms of weight and a 17 percent growth in terms of value compared to the preceding year.

Pistachio, dairy, sweets and chocolate, dates, tomato, apple and Saffron accounted for more than 75 percent of the Iranian exports of food and agricultural products (nearly $800 million), Zargaran said.

Iranian products were exported to 98 different countries, he said, adding that Iraq and Afghanistan received more than 54% of the Iranian food and agricultural products in the three-month period.

Iranian imports of food and agricultural products stood at nearly 4.26 million tons worth over $2.09 billion in he mentioned time which shows a 7% decrease in terms of weight and a 6% fall in terms of value compared to the same period last year.