Page 40 - IRANRptAug19

The Rosselkhoznadzor Office Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance in the Republic of Dagestan reportedly said both Iranian and Azerbaijani products had arrived without proper import documentation were returned to the exporters due to quarantine issues.
Some 119,000 tonnes of tomatoes, 108,000 tonnes of sweet cherries and 11.73 tonnes of bell peppers were sent back over the border in one episode.
Cherries, tomatoes and bell peppers deriving from Azerbaijan and Iran have been turned away at the Yarag-Kazmalar border entry point on the Caspian Sea in the Russian federal republic Dagestan, Lezgi Gazet reported on June 27.
A flood of cheap produce from Iran is being exported around the northern and southern Caucasus partly because of the severe depreciation of the Iranian rial (IRR) in the face of US sanctions, which has markedly reduced the cost of consignments to buyers.
The Rosselkhoznadzor Office Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance in the Republic of Dagestan reportedly said both Iranian and Azerbaijani products had arrived without proper import documentation were returned to the exporters due to quarantine issues. Some 119,000 tonnes of tomatoes, 108,000 tonnes of sweet cherries and 11.73 tonnes of bell peppers were sent back over the border in one episode.
Officials claimed they had determined that some of the vegetable shipments contained oriental pinworm, Western Californian Thrips and moths.
9.1.7 Property sector news
Iran’s residential rental market has reached its breaking point, with tenants unable to afford price hikes any longer, according to an Iranian real estate expert cited by IRNA.
The dizzying drop in the value of the Iranian rial (IRR) against a basket of hard currencies by some 65-70% in the past 12 months under the economic pressure generated by US sanctions has led landlords to jack up rents. Annual rental agreements in Iran are now often renegotiated due to sudden increases demanded in deposits and monthly payments demanded by landlords.
Hesam Oghbayi, vice president of the Real Estate Advisors' Union told IRNA: "One determinant in rent prices around the world is housing prices; inflation and the imbalance between supply and demand as well as population growth are other factors.
"The capacity to increase rental rates is not more than 20% in big cities, and around 10 to 15% in smaller cities.”
He added that “the possibility of increasing prices in the rental market is remote because of supply and demand in renting”.
In recent years, according to Oghbayi, housing prices have climbed without pause, “and as a result, in those years more tenants have migrated from wealthy sections of [cities] to downtown areas, and tenants in more deprived areas migrate to satellite towns eventually”.
Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development announced on May 20 that it is to set up an emergency committee to set rental rates to ensure they do not exceed consumer inflation.
Abbas Farhadieh, director of the housing investment and economy department at the ministry, reportedly said: “The committee will consist of nine people from the private sector, Majlis [parliament], estate agents and the central bank.”
The committee would not interfere in the free market but would attempt to set clear guidelines for property prices in each individual area, he added.
40 IRAN Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com