BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 24
By Eldar Janashvili - Trend:
Astara Grain Terminal, which is under construction in Azerbaijan, will begin operations by August 2020, Farid Hasanov, the terminal’s operations manager, said at the 11th Global Grain Outlook International Grain Trading Conference in Baku, Trend reports from the event Oct. 24.
Hasanov said that the terminal’s throughput capacity will reach 500,000 tons per year, and by 2021, it is planned to reach throughput capacity up to one million tons per year. The terminal capacity for one-time grain storage will be 60,000 tons, the manager noted.
Touching upon the issue of tariffs, the representative of Astara Grain Terminal noted that the tariff policy of the terminal is under development, but assured that prices will be lower than in Russian terminals.
Iran, as well as Egypt and Turkey, are consistently among the top three exporters of Russian grain, Hasanov said.
“Because Iran is always among the top three exporters of Russian grain, the western branch of the North-South corridor should provide direct rail links through the Samur border crossing with further access to Iran, to Rasht and Qazvin cities,” the terminal’s operations manager said. “This corridor will correspond to logistics requirements for Russian and Kazakh grain exports more than the current river-sea route.”
Speaking about the advantages of transporting grain through Astara city, Hasanov noted that the priceson rail transit is much cheaper than on road and sea routes. In particular, Azerbaijan provides 50 percent discounts on transit to Iran, the manager added.
The representative of the terminal also informed the audience about the stability and absence of risks when using the rolling stock.
The 11th Global Grain Outlook International Grain Trading Conference in Baku is organized by the Russian Grain Union, the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO), the Russian Export Center and the Federation of Iranian Food Industries Associations.