World meat industry news

Iran exported $533 million worth of commodities to Russia in 2018, up from $392 million in 2017, an Iranian envoy in Russia has said, according to the Financial Tribune.

The figure registered a growth of 36 percent in Iran’s exports to the country’s northern neighbor compared with the preceding year, according to Farhad Parand, Iran’s commercial attaché in Russia.

The Islamic Republic mainly exported included pistachio, raisins, dates, apples, cucumbers, tomatoes, fish, shrimp, milk, cheese, tea, kiwi fruit, and cabbage.

The trade between Iran and Russia stood at 1.74 billion dollars in 2018, registering a 2-percent growth from 2017, Parand said.

The official further referred to the abandoning of the U.S. currency in bilateral trade transactions and using national currencies of the two countries instead, and also removing customs problems as two major factors for improving trade between Iran and Russia.

In a recent interview with TASS, Russia’s Ambassador to Iran Levan Dzhagaryan said that Moscow and Tehran have given up the dollar in settlement payments and plan to shift completely to national currencies, with euro to be used if there are no other options.

“It is crucial for Russia to shift to national currencies in settlement payments with Iran. We will be using all existing means to bring the mentioned indicators to the highest possible level,” he noted, adding that virtually Moscow “has already given up the dollar in cooperation with Iran.”

“We will rely on the Russian ruble and the Iranian rial, and on the euro if absolutely necessary, if there are no other options,” the diplomat said.