According to Ravanbakhsh Behzadian, the announced figure shows a growth of 67 percent in comparison with the same period in the preceding year.

Some 6.98 million tons of basic goods were imported in the said time, registering 64 percent growth year-on-year, he added.

Of the said imported amount, 7 million tons have been through Imam Khomeini port, the official said.

An official from Iranian ministry of industry, mine and trade told Mehr news agency in early August that the volume of ministry’s registered orders for imports of basic goods is five-fold more than domestic need for the products.

“The ordered goods will be imported incrementally,” the officials said.

“Some of the ordered goods are now at the country’s customs and will be released gradually to regulate domestic market,” he added.

“Some parts of the orders are made by state-run companies and the industry ministry is the body in charge of them,” the official said.

“The ministry will supervise distribution of the goods to regulate domestic market and to protect both producers and consumers,” he added.

The official underlined that presently, Iran’s domestic market is facing no difficulty with supplying basic goods.

Supplying basic goods is one of the major issues on the Iranian government’s agenda in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21) and it is one of the focal pillars in the national budget bill for this year.

In this due, the government is taking numerous strategies for the supply of these goods. One of them is allocating foreign currency for the imports of basic goods through domestic Forex Management Integrated System (locally known as NIMA) which allows importers to supply their required foreign currency without specific problems.