TEHRAN: Iran exported some 500 truckloads of food items and different kinds of fruits to Russia over the past week.
Officials in Tehran said on Tuesday that some 500 truckloads of food items and different kinds of fruits were exported to Russia over the past week.
Masoud Khansari, the president of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, has been quoted by the media as saying that the exports to Russia were made through Azerbaijan.
Khansari further said that the required authorizations for exports of dairy and livestock products to Russia have also been issued, adding that the exports could start before the end of January.
On a related front, Pedram Soltani, the deputy chairman of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, has been quoted by the media as saying that the prices of fruits for exports to Russia have been amended to make them more competitive.
Soltani said the current opportunity for exporting food to Russia may never occur, stressing that the Iranian food exporters should make maximum use of this opportunity.
He further called on Iranian exporters to form a union with their Russian peers to facilitate trade between both sides.
Soltani also emphasized that Iran’s food exports to Russia have recently hit certain hurdles that have arised as a result of Moscow’s sanctions embargo on imports from Turkey.
He said the Russians have recently become concerned that Iran may be using the current channel for exports to Russia for exporting Turkish food items. The same concerns, the official said, disrupted exports of food from Iran to Russia over the past few days. Those problems, Soltani said, have been removed, adding that wider hurdles still exist without elaborating.
Iran’s media said last week that a leading domestic dairy company has received the authorization to export its products to Russia.
Eranico news website reported that four major provincial offshoots of Iran Dairy Industries Company (IDIC) – Pegah Fars, Pegah Tehran, Pegah Golpayegan and Pegah Isfahan – will start exporting their products to Russia from 20 January 2015.
