During the visit of a delegation of State Duma deputies to Iran, an agreement was reached on the payment of Russia’s debts for agricultural products delivered earlier, said Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Duma Committee on International Affairs.
“Much has moved forward. This is the payment of huge debts for our agricultural products, which have been increasing every month from the Iranian side,” Slutsky told reporters on Tuesday, commenting on the results of the trip.
A State Duma delegation headed by Vyacheslav Volodin visited Iran on January 22-23. Slutsky was a member of the parliamentary delegation.
In November 2022, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak told reporters following a meeting of the Russian-Iranian intergovernmental commission that the Russian Federation and Iran were expanding trade in agricultural products and food, but there was a problem with payment. “Our trade has expanded significantly. We are constantly removing all the barriers that exist. And at present, the only main issue is the issue of timely payment,” Novak said.
According to him, agricultural products account for up to 40% of Russian exports to Iran.
As reported, Russia exports wheat, corn, barley and other grain crops to Iran. In the last agricultural year (July 2021 – June 2022), he entered the top 3 buyers of Russian wheat. According to the analytical center of JSC Rusagrotrans, wheat exports from Russia to Iran amounted to 6.15 million tons, the share of Russian wheat in the country’s imports reached 77%. This agricultural year, purchases are estimated at 4.5-5 million tons, which is associated with a higher own wheat harvest.
In turn, Iran supplies vegetables and fruits, fish and dairy products to the Russian Federation. According to the FSIS “Argus-Fito” (Rosselkhoznadzor), over 8 months of this year, it became one of the largest exporters to Russia of white cabbage (73 thousand tons), kiwi (55 thousand tons), pepper (37 thousand tons), watermelons (36 thousand tons), iceberg lettuce (19 thousand tons), oranges (17 thousand tons), eggplants (16 thousand tons), apples (13 thousand tons) and other products. In just 8 months of this year, Iran supplied 416,000 tons of fruits and vegetables to the Russian Federation.
