Despite the great emphases Iran and Russia laid during the past months on increasing the export of Iranian food and agricultural products to Russia, the soft commodities had a very little share in Iran’s export to Russia in the first six months of the Iranian calendar year, which were started March 21.
Based on official statistics provided by Iran’s Customs Administration, $136,122,149 worth of good were exported to Russia during the period. This is while the White Portland cement topped the list with the value of $21,463,059. The most significant soft commodity exported to Russia during the six-month period was tomato paste with a value of $10,820,748.
Russia recently came under US and EU sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine. Moscow, in response hit back by stopping imports of food products from Europe. On August 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree “banning or limiting” imports of agricultural products from all nations that imposed sanctions on his country, suggesting that he has no intention of bending to economic pressure from the West.
Since then, Russians have seen Iran as an alternative to supply their food requirements. The two countries have also exchanged a few trade delegations to negotiate the issue.
Experts believe there are serious obstacles in the way of exporting agricultural products to the Russian Federation including shortage of refrigerator trucks for perishable freight and the lack of animal quarantine protocols.
