TEHRAN (Iran News) – Expensive transportation is the major obstacle in way of enhancing exports to Brazil, it was claimed during a seminar on Sunday.
Head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture says trade relations between Iran and Brazil are maintained and increased during the sanction time.
In a seminar on the development of relations with Brazil held on Sunday evening in the presence of business activists in Tehran, Gholamhossein Shafei stated: “Basic needs, corn, soybeans, sugar, meat, and coffee were the important part of our imports from Brazil.”
“The trend of imports has decreased by 58% and exports have increased by 110%, but the trade balance between the two countries is still not acceptable,” he noted.
“Petrochemical, petroleum products, and pharmaceutical equipment are other part of Iran-Brazil trade,” he added.
“There are two obstacles to exporting to Brazil,” he said; “The first one is the lack of air and shipping lines, and the second is the lack of agreement to avoid additional tax.”
Shafei stressed that Brazil has always been of special importance to Iran, especially for the supply of basic goods and foodstuff, saying: “Brazil has always been an attractive market for us and although only four years have passed since the establishment of Iran-Brazil Joint Chamber of Commerce, Iran-Brazil Joint Chamber was the first to establish an office in the destination country.”
He went on to say that relations between the two countries have a history of more than 100 years and even during the sanctions the two sides not only maintained their trade relations but also increased them.
Mentioning the establishment of Iran-Brazil Joint Chamber of Commerce in July 2017, the official said: “In 2020, Iran’s direct imports from Brazil reached $1.15 billion, while exports to this country were only $116 million. In the first 10 months of 2021, we imported $1.7 billion of products from Brazil.”
According to Shafei, the top imported items from Brazil include basic goods, corn, soy, oil, sugar, meat, and coffee, and Brazil’s mineral and industrial capacities have received less attention.
He emphasized that to enhance exports to Brazil there are two main obstacles, noting that transportation is the first major hurdle and unfortunately due to reloading in the third party country, the cost of transportation becomes expensive and Iranian goods lose the competition race to its rivals. He added that launching the direct shipping line and direct flight between Tehran and Sao Paulo can solve this problem to some extent.
He also said lack of basic trade agreement between the two countries is the other major hurdle for trade with Brazil.
President of the Iran-Brazil Joint Chamber of Commerce, Fakhroddin Amerian, also stated: “Iran-Brazil economic relations go back to 116 years ago and the country’s trade relations with Iran were also positive during the sanctions.”
“Brazil is a country prone to selling Iranian goods, which unfortunately has been neglected,” he said.
Meanwhile Ambassador of Brazil to Tehran Laudemar Gonçalves de Aguiar Neto, addressing the seminar, said that the trade between Iran and Brazil witnessed growth in 2021 comparing to 2020, adding that the trade level between the two countries has grown in the field agriculture and expressed hope this trade can be diversified and expanded to other fields.
He went on to say that the trade volume between Iran and Brail was some $2.5b in 2021 and corn accounts for $750m of the total trade.
He also assessed the horizon of the bilateral trade favorable in 2022, adding that of course some openings like the agreement in Vienna can expand this cooperation. He reiterated that recently Brazil has approved a law in the parliament which can help cooperation between small Brazilian companies with Iranians.
