Page 19 - IRANRptAug19

5.1.2 Import/export dynamics
Trade tonnage between Iran and Uzbekistan up 75% y/y in first Persian month
Iran threatens $2bn of imports from Brazil in row over unfuelled ships stranded by US sanctions
Iran’s non-oil goods trade with Uzbekistan in tonnage grew 755% y/y to 103,023 tonnes in the first month of the 2019/2020 Persian year (March 21-April 20), the Financial Tribune daily on July 24 quoted Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) as saying.
The growth in terms of value was 194.94% y/y, with the traded goods worth $22.2mn.
Trade between the two near-neighbours has expanded since Uzbek President Shavkat Mirzayoyev came to power in late 2017 following the death of long-time ruler Islam Karimov. Iran, which already had established banking connections with Uzbekistan via its Bank Saderat branch in Tashkent, has exploited the readily available opening to increase trade transactions.
Of the 103,023 tonnes of trade in the first Persian month, Iran’s exports to Uzbekistan stood at 92,381 tonnes with a value of $11.39mn. Chemicals, building materials including Portland cement, mining equipment, linear alkylbenzenes and polyethylene were among the exports.
Uzbekistan exported 10,642 tonnes of commodities to Iran worth $10.88mn to Iran in the month, the official figures showed. The exports included semi- and wholly-milled rice, field corn, oilcake, butter, soybeans and auto parts. Tashkent has previously said that in 2018 Iran was the biggest buyer of Uzbek cotton .
Uzbekistan does not border Iran, but Iranian goods can reach it, for instance, via Turkmenistan. Three neighbours of Uzbekistan to the east are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and these countries each border the vast Chinese economy.
Also during the first month of the current Persian year, Uzbekistan was Iran's 21st biggest trading partner. Uzbekistan was Iran’s 17th biggest export destination globally.
Uzbekistan is Central Asia’s most populous nation, with 32.8mn people compared to Iran’s 82.5mn.
Iran has threatened to slash imports it takes from Brazil unless it allows the refuelling of at least two Iranian ships stranded off the Brazilian coast as a result of US sanctions, Bloomberg reported on July 24.
Iran’s ambassador to Brazil, Seyed Ali Saghaeyan, said in an interview with the news agency that he had told Brazilian officials that his country could easily find new suppliers of corn, soybeans and meat if the South American nation refused to permit the refuelling. Brazilian exports to Iran, which also include sugar and around one-third of all Brazil’s corn exports, are worth around $2bn a year.
“I told the Brazilians that they should solve the issue, not the Iranians,” Saghaeyan was reported as saying at the Iranian Embassy in federal capital Brasilia. “If it’s not solved, maybe the authorities in Tehran may want to take some decision because this is a free market and other countries are available.” State-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro has declined to supply the ships with fuel. For more than a month they have been anchored off the port of Paranagua. Petroleo Brasileiro has cited the risk of getting hit by secondary US sanctions if it goes ahead with the refuelling.
Far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is a strong supporter of his US counterpart Donald Trump. He has warned Brazilian exporters of the risk of trading with Iran.
19 IRAN Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com