India-Iran trade become normal so soon; Expert
“There is no particular problem in trade with India now and bilateral relations will return to normal soon,” Vice president of India-Iran Chamber of Commerce Parham Rezaei told ILNA.
Speaking with ILNA news agency correspondent, the Iranian official refers to outbreak of coronavirus and added “following the coronavirus epidemic, we faced challenges with our trade relations with India and although the situation has not returned to normal but it is expected within the next week or two it is going to be over.”
Rezaei said that there is no problem with financial transfers with India and the deposited money can be used for basic goods.
Iran’s main non-oil exports to India include steel, ammonia, gas condensates, petrochemicals, and paraffin. India’s main exports to Iran include agricultural products such as rice, oilseeds, cotton, tea as well as textiles, thread, and industrial machinery.
Iran has been an important trade partner for India with bilateral trade in 2018-19 posting a 23.7 percent growth to $17.03 billion. Of this, mineral oil and fuel imports were key, accounting for $12.3 billion.
While imports from Iran declined by 90.3 percent in the April-November 2019-20 period to $1.29 billion because of the reduction of petroleum imports to zero, the fall in exports was lower at 36 percent to $2.23 billion.
END