Mr Kateb said the steep export drop was revealed in a parliament report by Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi.

BBC: Iranian oil revenues 'drop 45%' because of sanctions

In the first three months of this year, Japan's real global exports were 10% lower than during the same period a year earlier, according to Richard Katz of the Oriental Economist Report. (A "real export" measures units shipped, not the yen value.) Nominal exports, measured in yen instead of number of widgets, have not taken such a severe beating.

WSJ: Business Asia: Unearned Praise for Abenomics

In July, a UN report said the export of charcoal from Kismayo and Merca helped al-Shabab generate millions of dollars - despite a UN Security Council ban on countries buying charcoal from Somalia.

BBC: Kenya's navy shells Kismayo in Somalia

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is preparing a report calling for a big rethink of Britain's laissez-faire export policy.

ECONOMIST: British exports: Trading out of trouble | The

The EIA also publishes a monthly report, which refines the export data, but it comes out two months after the weekly report and doesn't get much attention from the market.

WSJ: Questions Arise on Gasoline Demand Data

Still, while only a slight improvement, the GDP report reverses earlier estimates that the economy actually shrank and showed a strong export economy and rising business investment.

NPR: US Futures Give Up Gains After Growth Data Release

In a Westminster Hall session on 20 October 2011, a member of the parliamentary Committee on Arms Export Controls, Sir John Stanley, opened a debate on his committee's annual report.

BBC: Debate on arms export controls

"Subdued actual export growth in April points to sluggish global demand, " said RBS economists Louis Kuijs and Tiffany Qiu in a report.

NPR: China Reports Stronger April Trade Growth

According to the commission's report, in 2000-05 oil exporters spent a bigger share of each extra dollar of export revenues on imports from the euro zone than they did in 1973-81.

ECONOMIST: The euro area's economy