Page 25 - IRANRptFeb22

5.1.2 Import/export dynamics
Iran’s trade with EU member states up 7% y/y in Jan-Nov 2021
Tehran, Moscow ‘commit to reducing use of dollar in trade’
Russia, Iran annual trade ‘on course to hit record-breaking $4bn’
Iran-Kazakhstan trade declines 17% y/y in value in first 9
Iran's foreign trade with the 27 member states of the European Union in the first 11 months of 2021 expanded by 7% to €4.2bn, according to the EU’s statistics service, Eurostat, IRNA has reported.
Iranian exports to EU countries were valued at €831mn, up 26% y/y, while EU-country exports to Iran amounted to €3.4bn, which up 4% y/y.
Germany, the Netherlands and Italy were the main EU exporters to Iran. Germany, Italy and Spain were major destinations for Iranian exports.
Iran will anticipate a major uplift in trade with the European bloc should the 2015 nuclear deal be successfully relaunched by the ongoing Vienna talks. US sanctions presently stand in the way of many trade flows.
Chairman of the Iran-Russia Parliamentary Friendship Group, Ebrahim Rezaee, said Tehran and Moscow have reached an agreement on reducing the use of the dollar in bilateral trade, IRNA has reported. Tehran and Moscow have attempted to weed the use of the dollar where possible in their trading since the 2018 sealing of the temporary three-year preferential trade agreement (PTA) between Iran and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which saw hundreds of trade tariffs removed.
"In the monetary and banking sector, Iran and Russia have agreed to take positive steps to move away from the US dollar as the dominant currency in bilateral trade, especially in the transport sector," Rezaei said.
He added that international trade between countries located in Eurasia stood at $300bn a year. If Iran could account for at least 10% of the business conducted in this market, it would lead to significant economic growth for the country, Rezaei added.
"In the field of energy, both sides [Russia and Iran] have agreed to cooperate in the development of oil and gas fields in Iran," he also noted.
In a related statement on February 1, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian called President Ebrahim Raisi's recent visit to Moscow for talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a "great achievement" and a new chapter in relations between Tehran and Moscow.
During the talks, an updated draft of a proposed 20-year economic and political cooperation agreement between Iran and Russia was discussed. Geopolitical analysts are increasingly observing a strengthening triangle of cooperation linking Iran, Russia and China.
Trade turnover between Russia and Iran likely hit a record-breaking $4bn in 2021, Russian Trade Representative in Tehran Rustam Zhiganshin told TASS.
"Turnover surged by 89.4% during the first 11 months against the like period of the last year and stood at $3.76bn," he noted.
"Agricultural produce accounted for about 80% in the trade turnover between the countries," Zhiganshin added. "Grains and oil-bearing crops moved up in our export in the first instance," he said. "Export of vaccines can be noted among new positions—our relevant supplies to Iran totalled $45mn."
During Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s recent trip to Moscow for talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Iranian and Russian officials talked about boosting bilateral trade to around $10bn with a few years.
Iran’s trade with Kazakhstan stood at $170.5mn during the current Persian calendar year’s first nine months (March 21 - December 21), registering a 17% y/y decline in value, Mizan Online quoted the head of
25 IRAN Country Report February 2022 www.intellinews.com