TEHRAN – Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) hosted a seminar on Iran-Brazil trade opportunities and challenges on Sunday, the ICCIMA portal reported.

The event was attended by senior officials including ICCIMA Head Gholam-Hossein Shafeie, head of Iran-Brazil Joint Chamber of Commerce, deputy agriculture minister, head of Iranian parliament’s Agriculture Committee, as well as a handful of the country’s traders, producers, and businessmen.

Speaking in this seminar, Shafeie 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 Shafeie, 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.

The official further noted that Iran's imports from Brazil have decreased 55 percent in recent years and exports have increased by 110 percent, but there is still no proper balance between imports and exports.

“Trade should be a two-way street. We can cooperate in the fields of petrochemicals, pharmaceutical industry, transportation, medicine. We hope that a suitable platform will be provided for this to happen,” he said.

Referring to the importance of barter trade between the two countries, the ICCIMA head said: “The two countries’ authorities should create grounds for barter trade between Iran and Brazil; for instance, we can export petrochemicals and import livestock feed in return.”

He further mentioned some of the problems in the way of expanding trade with Brazil, saying: “There are two main obstacles to developing exports to Brazil; The first obstacle is transportation. Unfortunately, exporting through third countries destroys part of the competitive advantage of Iranian goods and increases the cost of exports. In this regard, the launch of a direct shipping line or a Tehran-Sao Paulo airline can largely remove this obstacle.”

“The second obstacle is the lack of a basic trade platform, including a preferential or free trade agreement between the two countries. Such agreements are the basis for trade and unfortunately, we do not have any agreements with Brazil, and this issue should be on the agenda of the two countries, which could result in great positive changes in the level of trade,” he added.

EF/MA