MNA – Iran exported 405,000 tons of foodstuff and agricultural products, valued at $315 million, to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) last year (ended March 20, 2019).

The Director General of Export Promotion Office of the Ministry of Agriculture Shahrokh Shajari made the remarks on Monday in a conference on ‘familiarity with trade opportunities between Iran-Eurasia”.

“Last year, about 7 million tons of foodstuff and agricultural products, valued at $6.41 billion, were exported from the Islamic Republic of Iran," he added.

He went on to say that Iran imported 20.5 million tons of agricultural products, valued at $10.7 billion, from different countries in the world.

He put Iran’s trade share with Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in the past year (ended March 20, 2019) at 2.58 million tons, valued at $1.92 billion, of which, 405,000 tons of foodstuff and agricultural produce, valued at $315.3 million, have been exported to Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Elsewhere in his remarks, Shajari put the volume of foodstuff and agricultural produce imported into Iran from EAEU at 2.12 million tons, valued at $776 million.

According to the Exports Promotion Office of the Ministry of Agriculture, EAEU accounts for 10.4 percent of the world’s total export share of agricultural products.

Shajari then pointed to some advantages of Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) inked between Iran and EAEU and added, “abolishing business visas for businesspeople of the two sides, holding specialized business exhibitions both in Iran and Eurasian countries, emphasizing the need for the removal of barriers ahead of banking system and also accrediting credit companies of two sides, are some of the advantage of PTA agreement.”