The number of Iranian traders using railroad for exports to Turkmenistan has been on the rise following the neighboring country’s recent decision to increase tariffs on Iranian transit trucks, CEO of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, Mohsen Pourseyyed Aqaie, said.
“Every day we receive requests for transportation of 20-30 containers to Turkmenistan via railway,” the official was quoted by IRNA as saying.
Aqaie says the increase in road transit tariffs has not hurt the volume of trade between the two Caspian states.
Earlier, director-general of the Transit and Border Terminals Bureau of Iran’s Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization, Mohammad Javad Atrchian, said Ashgabat’s move, which took effect on August 8, came without prior notice or any explanation on the part of its officials.
Iran has retaliated in kind by imposing higher tariffs on Turkmen trucks crossing Iran’s border.
Every year about 75,000 Iranian trucks enter Turkmenistan while 7,000 to 8,000 trucks use the Central Asian state to get to other destinations in the region.
Meanwhile, 20,000 Turkmen trucks enter Iran every year. Another 2,000 to 3,000 use Iran as a transit route.
On December 2015, Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan inaugurated a 926-kilometer railroad, which is 80km in Iran, 700km in Turkmenistan and more than 120km in Kazakhstan.
Initially, three to five million tons of cargo was expected to be transported via this route annually. The volume was set to increase in the long run to 10-12 million tons.
Iran exported 570,600 tons of non-oil goods worth $182.8 million to Turkmenistan during the first four months of the current Iranian year (March 20-July 21) – a 27% decline in value compared to the similar period a year before, according to Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
Steel products, bitumen, ethylene polymer pipes and hoses, potatoes, fodder, carpet, cement and apples were among the main exports.
Meanwhile, more than 22,300 tons of goods worth $6.6 million, including grains, oil cake, cotton and raw silk, were imported from the neighboring country to register a 42% increase.
