China and Russia are Iran's rivals in trade with Kazakhstan
Head of Iran-Kazakhstan Joint Chamber of Commerce says Iran and Kazakhstan need to sign MoUs for boosting their trade ties as the current trade level is not satisfactory despite their great potentials.
Speaking to ILNA news agency, Amir Abedi talked about the latest developments on the trade between Iran and Kazakhstan, said that recent studies and statistics of the Iran Customs Administrations show that the total exports of Iran to Kazakhstan in nine months this year have been 360.3k tons in terms of weight and $132.6m in value.
He said that Kazakhstan is one of the founders of the Eurasian Economic Union and the World Bank studies show that Kazakhstan’s economy in recent years has improved and the per capita revenue of Kazakhs has soared considerably.
"Russia, China and some European countries are among the main trade partners of Kazakhstan."
He reiterated that Kazakhstan is the biggest country in the Central Asia which is Iran’s neighbor via the Caspian Sea.
Abedi added that access to the Caspian Sea can be an especial opportunity for Iran’s trade for exporting its products to Kazakhstan while exports to Kazakhstan can be done by land, too.
The Iranian official noted that as Iran and Kazakhstan have had good relations for long years, improvement of trade ties with Kazakhstan can be important for Iranian traders.
He stated Iran’s exports to Kazakhstan in the first three quarters of the current year have been 360.3k tons in weight and $132.6m in value while the total imports from Kazakhstan have been around $37.9m so the total trade of Iran and Kazakhstan stands at $170.5m.
Abedi went on to say that Iran’s exports to Iran last year were $167.9 while the imports from Kazakhstan were valued at $37.4m.
He said that agro and food products, different types of mining and construction stones and home appliances have been major exporting items of Iran to Kazakhstan.
Abedi reiterated that Russia is the main exporter to Kazakhstan which shows the economic dependence of this country to Russia.
He said in 2020, Russia accounted for 35% of Kazakhstan’s required imports which is a considerable figure.
"China with 17% is the second exporting country to Kazakhstan and South Korea with 13% is the third country while the U.S. only accounts for 3% of Kazakhstan’s required imports."
He went on to say that if technical and engineering services to Kazakhstan are added, the bilateral trade between Tehran and Nur-Sultan can hit $450m which is higher than what has been registered in the customs administration.
Abedi said that on exports, Kazakhstan is west-bound and Western countries have been Kazakhstan’s destinations for exports but Russia and China still have a considerable share in Kazakhstan’s exports.
He said due to high capacities and potentials, Iran and Kazakhstan can expand their economic cooperation and it needs good planning and studies, reiterating that signing joint MoUs is another effective way for improving trade between Ira and Kazakhstan.
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