Iran’s 10-Month Exports to Russia Up by 8.5%

About 371,629 tons of non-oil products, valued at $219.258 million, were exported to Russia, accounting for 0.39 and 0.60 percent of country’s total exports volume in terms of weight and value respectively, Iran’s foreign trade statistics with 100 countries in the world during the first 10 months of the current year showed.

Russia is ranked the 17th country in terms of importing products from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

According to statistics, Iran exported 370,817 tons of products, valued at $201.968 million, to Russia in 10 months of the last Iranian calendar year in 1396 (from March 20, 2017 to Jan. 21, 2018), accounting for 0.37 and 0.57 percent of country’s total exports volume in terms of weight and value respectively.

Accordingly, statistics show that Iran’s export of products to Russia in 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year reduced 0.22 percent in terms of weight and also 8.56 percent hike in terms of value as compared to a year earlier.

Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian had a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak early in this month.

Ardakanian and Novak conferred on the further development of ties and cooperation between the two countries, specially in the field of economy.

The two ministers also discussed preparatory measures for holding the 15th session of Iranian-Russian Joint Commission, expected to be held in the Iranian capital, Tehran, in the near future.

Ardakanian and Novak stressed continued Iran-Russia cooperation on the international level.

Further cooperation in the fields of energy, industry, transit and agriculture were discussed during the phone conversation between Iranian and Russian energy ministers. 

The 14th meeting of Iran-Russia Joint Cooperation Commission was held in Moscow in March 2018.

In relevant remarks earlier this week, the Russian ambassador to the Islamic Republic revealed that Moscow and Tehran had “essentially” turned away from the greenback in bilateral trade, and were using the ruble and rial for payments.

Turning to cross-currency trade was a “vital” issue for both Russia and Iran, and the two countries are planning to use “all available means” to boost these efforts, Levan Dzhagaryan said in an interview with TASS.

“We have already essentially dropped the dollar in cooperation with the Iranians, we will rely on the Russian ruble and the Iranian rial, (and) in case of urgent need, on the euro, if we have no other options,” the diplomat said. He added that banking structures in both countries have the potential to cope with this “difficult” task.

Despite efforts by European countries to keep trading with the Islamic Republic after the US pulled out of the nuclear agreement, their efforts still do not fully address Tehran’s interests, Dzhagaryan believed.