Iran’s customs office (IRICA) says non-oil exports from the country rose by 18% year on year in the eight months to November 20.

IRICA chief Foroud Asgari said on Tuesday that Iran had exported $38.152 billion worth of goods and commodities in the eight months to late November.

He said that export shipments had also increased by 14.66% in volume terms over the same period to reach 103.558 million metric tons.

His figures showed that petrochemicals had accounted for 29.79% of Iran’s total non-oil exports in the eight months to late November as shipments generated $17.5 billion worth of revenues.

Main export items included liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at $5.1 billion, liquefied propane at $2.2 billion, and methanol at $1.7 billion, the figures showed.

China was the largest buyer of Iranian export shipments over the April-November period with $9.9 billion worth of purchases, followed by Iraq at $8.3 billion and the United Arab Emirates at $4.8 billion, IRICA figures showed.

Figures released earlier this month pointed to a major month-on-month increase in Iran’s non-oil exports in October thanks to a surge in shipments delivered to neighboring Iraq.