Trade between Iran and Russia during the first half of 2018 stood at more than $945 million, which shows a 28.3% increase compared with the corresponding period of last year, according to data released by the Federal Customs Services of Russia.
The trade volume accounted for 0.28% of Russia’s foreign transactions over the period, up from the first six months of 2017, in which the share was 0.27%.
Iran was Russia’s 47th trade partner in H1 2018. Over last year’s similar period, Iran was Russia’s 50th trade partner, IRNA reported.
Russia exported $629 million worth of commodities to Iran during the six-month period to register a 23.65% rise year-on-year. The export volume accounted for 0.29% of Russia’s total exports over the period under review.
The main exported goods from Russia to Iran were agricultural products, transportation machinery and equipment, articles made of wood and paper, metal and metal products, and chemicals, which made up 54.46%, 14.89%, 13.42%, 11.62% and 2.85% of the total volume of exports respectively.
Iran exported $316 million worth of goods to its northern neighbor, which shows a 38.71% rise year-on-year. The volume accounted for 0.24% of Russia’s overall imports over the six months.
Iran’s main exports to Russia included agrifood products, metals and metal products, chemicals and different kinds of machinery with a 77.37%, 11.6%, 7.47% and 1.1% share in total export volume respectively.
Iran's Roads Minister in Moscow
Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami arrived in Moscow on Tuesday to take part in "Russia’s Transport Week 2018" held in the Russian capital from November 17-22, the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development reported.
“I will be taking part in two trilateral meetings during my stay. One will be with Russian and Indian officials and another with Russian and Azerbaijani authorities,” he said before he set off.
The minister said the International North-South Transit Corridor and Azerbaijan’s financial cooperation in the construction of Iran’s Rasht-Astara Railroad will be among the subjects discussed during the event.
INSTC is a major transit route designed to facilitate the transportation of goods from Mumbai in India to Helsinki in Finland, using Iranian ports and railroads, which the Islamic Republic plans to connect to those of Azerbaijan and Russia.
The corridor will connect Iran with Russia’s Baltic ports and give Russia rail connectivity to both the Persian Gulf and the Indian rail network.
This means goods could be carried from Mumbai to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and further to Baku. They could then pass across the Russian border into Astrakhan before proceeding to Moscow and St. Petersburg, before entering Europe.
INSTC would substantially cut the travel time for everything from Asian consumer goods to Central Eurasia’s natural resources to advanced European exports.
The multimodal route is estimated to reduce the time and cost of transportation of goods between India and Europe from 40 to 15 days. The corridor is said to have the potential of diverting up to 10 million tons of India-Europe trade to the route.
Rasht-Astara Railroad is a missing link in the INSTC route. Azerbaijan agreed to provide Iran with €500 million worth of loan for completing the railroad last year.
Russia’s Transport Week is an annual business event, held in accordance with the order of the government of Russian Federation, which includes a series of nationwide and international activities dedicated to the transport industry. It has been hosted for the past 12 years by the Russian Ministry of Transport, Advantour.com writes on its website.
The event promotes open discussion of the most pressing transport issues and the strengthening of mutual understanding between representatives of the government and the business community.
