Iranian businesses invite Russian agribusiness cos to carry out joint projects - Agroexport

MOSCOW. Sept 28 (Interfax) - Leading Iranian and Russian agribusiness companies see great potential for increasing bilateral trade, including through joint investment projects, and they discussed prospects for cooperation during a business mission to Iran organized by Russia's Agroexport Center and Agriculture Ministry, the center said in a press release after the visit.

"Russia is the largest supplier of wheat to the Iranian market. However, to further expand cooperation the Iranian side has proposed to jointly invest in infrastructure and processing facilities," the release said.

Russian companies could ship wheat to Iran, process it into flour and export it to third countries, such as Iraq or Afghanistan, the president of the Federation of Iranian Associations of Flour Milling Industry, Hossein Yazdjerdi was reported as saying in the release.

Iranian processors of grains and oil crops also proposed to Russian suppliers to work out a long-term strategy for cooperation that would make it possible to develop joint investment projects and logistics through the Caspian Sea, as well as resolve financial issues.

Golshahd Grain Processing Refinery, for example, recently started importing corn from Russia. "A vessel has now left from Astrakhan and we expect to buy a shipload weekly. We intend to import about 1 million tonnes of corn per year and it's important for us to find good and reliable suppliers in Russia," the company's sales and marketing manager, Amirtaher Shirani was quoted as saying.

Iran annually imports 16 million to 20 million tonnes of agricultural goods, the chairman of the Federation of Iranian Food Associations, Mohammadreza Mortazavi said. "This year, thanks to its own harvest, Iran can reduce wheat imports. But we will buy corn, barley, vegetable oil, sunflower meal and seeds. Therefore, despite the geopolitical situation, we must find opportunities to deepen cooperation and optimize costs, including port costs," he said.

This includes increasing supplies of oil crop processed products for food and animal feed, he said. Iran imported only 184,000 tonnes of oilseed meal and cake in the period from April through September, so in the coming months Iranian companies will be actively looking for suppliers to secure contracts, Mortazavi said.

Russia, in turn, is prepared to significantly increase supplies of sunflower, soybean and rapeseed meal and cake. Iran is already the third largest market for Russian sunflower oil, and there are strong prospects for exporting rapeseed and soybean oil, oil and fat industry expert Ilya Ilyushin said.

Representatives of Iranian companies also showed interest in Russian meat and prepared products for the retail market, and further processing or re-exports to neighboring countries. The head of Iran's Association of Meat Companies, Masood Rasuli expressed a willingness to arrange imports of Russian sheep meat, beef and live animals. Iranian companies Vatan Sausage & Bologna Producer, Mahya Protein and Misagh Tejarat Gharn are also interested in Russian meat.

The head of commerce at Tehran retailer Shahvand Goods Service, Mojgan Ahmadi, meanwhile, said his company planned to start importing Russian confectionary products.

Iran's food market grew to $75 billion in 2022, Technologies of Trust - Consulting partner and CEO Mikhail Magrilov reported. He said key trends include the expansion of modern retail formats, rapid growth of e-commerce, strong demand for foreign brands, as well as high food inflation, reaching 60%-70% per year.

"These four trends have a strong impact on the dynamic and structure of the market, but also point to promising strategies for importers from Russia," Magrilov said.