Iran receives test-shipment of Russian chicken meat, considers importing beef and lamb - Agroexport

MOSCOW. Sept 26 (Interfax) - Russian poultry farmers sent a test-shipment of chicken meat to Iran. Producers of beef and lamb in Russia are also waiting for permission to ship, the Agroexport center said following the plenary "Russia-Iran: Mutually Beneficial Cooperation in Trade in Agricultural products" session which took place as part of a business mission of Russian agricultural exporting companies to Iran.

The head of the veterinary organization of the Iranian Ministry of Agricultural Jihad, Fahid Salehi, announced the trial shipments of chicken meat at the session. He also expressed his readiness to assist in opening transit of live cattle and small cattle through Iran to Iraq and the Persian Gulf countries.

In turn, Vasily Lavrovsky, adviser to the head of Rosselkhoznadzor, said that this year has become one of the busiest in terms of the intensity of contacts between control and supervisory services. "Currently, we are awaiting the certification of six poultry meat producing enterprises, as well as the final results of the reviews of beef and lamb producer questionnaires," he said. In addition, a request for the veterinary and sanitary requirements for turkey meat shipments was sent.

In addition to meat, soybean and rapeseed oil and leguminous crops also have great potential for export to Iran, Andrei Kucherov, deputy director of Agroexport said. "According to our forecast, by 2030, the volume of agricultural products shipped to Iran could grow to $4.5 billion. There is every opportunity to increase exports of wheat, sunflower oil, corn, and barley," he said.

Deputy General Director of the United Grain Company Ksenia Bolomatova noted that Iran is among the top-three importers of Russian grain. Results show that 5.6 million tonnes were shipped during the 2022/23 agricultural year.

Director of the Russian Agriculture Ministry's Department of International Cooperation and Development of Exports of Agricultural Products, Maxim Markovich noted that the trade turnover in agricultural products between the countries has been growing steadily in recent years and has more than doubled since 2020. "The active growth of trade and prospects for expanding cooperation require building long-term business contacts," he said.