Page 23 - IRANRptSep20

5.0​ External Sector & Trade
5.1​ Balance of payments and current account
Iran’s foreign trade with CIS hit $3.3bn in 2019 with exports up by billion dollars
Russian, Iranian energy ministers discuss trade, investment, while Tehran officials talk of non-oil exports recovery
Iran targets big trade boost with neighbours
Iran's foreign trade with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in 2019 hit $3.3bn, with a surplus of $205.2mn in favour of the Islamic Republic, according to the Iranian customs administration.
Seyed Ruhollah Latifi, spokesman for the administration, said that in 2019 Iran exported $1.8bn, or 4.8mn tonnes, of goods to CIS countries, with the value of exports rising by more than one billion dollars year on year.
Russia ($457mn), Azerbaijan ($429mn) and Armenia ($231mn) ranked among major export destinations for Iran.
The CIS consists of former Soviet states Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Since October last year, Iran and the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) have operated a two-year temporary preferential trade agreement (PTA). The EEU’s members are Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak discussed trade ties and investment cooperation with Iranian counterpart Reza Ardakanian by telephone on May 29, Russia’s energy ministry said.
The ministers discussed cooperation in the energy, agricultural and transport sectors, it added.
Iran’s energy ministry stated on its website: “In this conversation, agreements were also reached on the purchase of some basic goods by Iran from Russia.”
Earlier in May, traders and Iranian officials cited by Reuters said Iran was scrambling to buy millions of tonnes of wheat, corn and soybeans to shore up its reserves, despite President Hassan Rouhani’s assertions that the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis would not endanger food supplies to the Islamic Republic.
Central Bank of Iran (CBI) governor Abdolnasser Hemmati said last week that Iran’s non-oil exports were gaining momentum and “booming following the decline in the country's coronavirus cases”, according to Iranian News Agency (IRNA).
The collapse in oil prices has not hit Iran as much as other oil-exporting countries as its sales have been for the past year at a repressed—though unknown—level, and confined to the grey market, because of the US policy of using sanctions to attempt to drive all Iranian crude off world markets.
Iranian Deputy Industry Minister Hossein Modares Khiabani has said his ministry wants to quickly raise the annual value of exports to Iran’s 15 neighbours to $50bn, Tasnim news agency reported.
Crucial to that strategy will be taking advantage of a preferential trade agreement that came into effect in November between Iran and member states of the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)—namely Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
23​ IRAN Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com