Trade between Iran and Russia has continued to grow over the past two years, despite difficult external conditions, TASS said with reference to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov.
“Despite the difficult external conditions, Russian-Iranian trade is growing. Last year, it grew to $ 2 billion,” he said.
Mentioning the preferential trade agreement between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Morgulov expressed hope that this agreement would facilitate trade between the two parties and give an additional impetus to expand ties.
According to official figures, the trade turnover between Russia and Iran in 2018 amounted to 1.74 billion dollars, and between January and September 2019 – 1.589 billion dollars, Tehran Times notes.
Agricultural products are the basis of trade between countries. Trade in the agricultural sector in January-September 2019 amounted to $ 1.283 billion, an increase of 41.6 percent compared to the same period last year.
At the end of December 2019, the commercial representative of Moscow in Tehran, Rustam Zhiganshin, announced that more than 50 percent of the bilateral trade of Iran and Russia is carried out through national currencies.
“If in 2018 payments in national currencies amounted to 40 percent, then in 2019 this share has already exceeded 50 percent,” Zhiganshin said.
Russian exports to Iran include machinery, steel, wagons, wood, vegetable oil, corn, barley, red meat and other goods, while its imports from the Islamic Republic mainly consist of dairy products, vegetables and fruits.