BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 2
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
Iran exported 405,000 tons of food and agricultural products worth $315 million to Eurasian Economic Union’s EAEU) member-states last Iranian year (from March 21, 2018, through March 21, 2019), Director General of Export Development Department of the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture Shahrokh Shajari said.
“The trade turnover between Iran and EAEU amounted to $1.92 billion last year,” Shajari added, Trend reports referring to the ministry’s website.
“Iran exported nearly seven million tons of food and agricultural products worth $6.41 billion last year,” the director general said.
Shajari added that Iran imported 20.5 million tons of agricultural products worth $10.7 billion last year from various countries.
"Iran imported 2.12 million tons of food and agricultural products worth $776 million from the Eurasian Economic Union’s member-states,” the director general noted.
Referring to benefits resulting from the memorandum signed between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union, Shajari stressed that abolition of visa regime for businessmen, holding of special trade exhibitions by both sides, solving of problems related to the banking issues and foreign currency transfer may strengthen the trade relations between the two sides.
A temporary trade memorandum was signed between Iran and EAEU on October 27. In accordance with the memorandum, 862 kinds of products are to be imported and exported upon the preferential tariffs between the two parties. As agreed, Iran exports 502 kinds of products and imports 360 kinds of products.
Iran mainly exports pistachios, kiwi, oil products, raisins, cucumbers, cabbages, persimmons, medicines, cement, copper and methanol. The country mainly imports barley, animal feed, oil, cathode and wood from the Eurasian Economic Union’s member-states.
The US sanctions imposed against Iran in November 2018 caused a number of problems in the Iranian economy. Among them are the export of small volume of oil and the inability to develop trade relations with various countries. Iran has problems with banking transactions as a result of the lack of SWIFT.