Baku, Azerbaijan, May 26
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Russia seeks to import 28,000 metric tons of Iranian seafood, worth about $120 million, said Issa Golshahi, an official with the Iranian Fishery Organization.
He predicted that exports of seafood to Russia would hit $150 million in the current Iranian fiscal year, which began on March 21, Iran's ISNA news agency reported on May 26.
Russia has reduced tariffs on imports of fishery products to 20 percent, which led to a surge in requests for importing Iranian seafood, he noted.
Russia has requested importing 18,000 metric tons of fish, 7000 metric tons of shrimp, and 3000 metric tons of canned fish, he said, adding that export of shrimp will start in mid-August, and exports of other products will start in the current month.
He expected that seafood exports to Russia would rise by 1.5 fold in the next Iranian fiscal year.
Russia banned imports of meat, fish, fruit and vegetables from the United States, the 28-nation European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway for one year at the start of August 2014, in retaliation for sanctions imposed over Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine.
Iran says the Russian tit-for-tat ban on food from the West has opened up new opportunities for its exporters.
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