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“Urmiah Province in Iran has great potential in agro business as it produces 60% of processed and concentrated food products of the country. This province is the
largest producer of apples, with annual output of 1.5 million tonne. It is also a major producer of other fruits such as grapes, pears and apricot.
The province has world-class cold storage system to increase the shelf life of these fruits as they are exported to Europe and CIS countries. We are keen to
promote agro trade between Urmiah Province and India, particularly the state of Maharashtra. We seek the support of WTC Mumbai and AIAI in addressing the trade barriers
and logistics challenges affecting agriculture trade between the two countries,” said Mr. Benham Tajaddini, President of Agriculture and Food Industries Commission of
Iran at an interactive meeting with a trade delegation (Agriculture) from Urmiah Province of Iran. The interactive meeting was organized by WTC Mumbai and
All India Association of Industries (AIAI).
Mr. Tajaddini suggested Indian government to reduce trade barrier by providing preferential tariff treatment for agro product imports from Iran. He also
suggested the Indian government to relax stringent food safety standard norms and remove ban on import of some fresh fruits from Iran.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, Dr. Vijay Kalantri, Chairman, MVIRDC WTC Mumbai suggested that Iran and India can contribute to the food security
of both the nations by promoting bilateral trade in agro products. He said, “India needs to regain the lost growth momentum in export of agro products to
Iran by expediting cargo clearance at Chabahar Port, signing preferential trade agreement with Iran and addressing high shipping cost. Today, Iran is the ninth largest
destination for India’s agro products compared to third largest destination before the pandemic. Our agro export to Iran declined from USD 1.3 billion in FY20 to
USD 960 million by 2021-22.”
Dr. Kalantri suggested that Indian exporters and importers can reduce cost of trading by transacting directly with Iranian companies in local currency rather than routing the trade through
other territories such as Dubai or Singapore.
Highlighting the potential goods for promoting bilateral trade, Dr. Kalantri mentioned that already India is a major exporter of basmati and non-basmati rice, fresh fruits, juices, nuts,
groundnut, pulses and processed food items to Iran. Similarly, we can import fresh fruits and vegetables from Iran to control inflation in these commodities in the domestic market.
Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Jafar Nikzad, President of West Azerbaijan Union of Agro Products, Iran remarked, “We are keen to import banana, apple and other fresh fruits from India.
Similarly, Iran can supply apple, kiwifruit, saffron, grapes and other agro products to India. Currently, we are holding discussion with Government of India to resolve the shipping,
logistics and food safety standard issues that are affecting our two-way trade.”
The interactive meeting was attended by senior representatives from Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Mumbai, members of Fresh Vegetables and
Fruits Exporters Association of India and other representatives from agro product industry.
The session was followed by a B2B meeting between the delegation members from Iran and Indian agro product exporters and importers.
The meeting was also addressed by Mr. Seyed Muhammad Miraei, Trade and Economic Section, Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Mumbai.
