Iranian tire producers are making efforts to export their products to East Europe and Russia, according to the director of Iran’s Tire Industry Guild Association.
Hamidreza Abdolmaleki told IRNA economic correspondent that the efforts to export Iranian tire to East Europe are being made after the country had a successful presence in the markets of Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Exports of Iranian tires were banned in 2018 as the industry received foreign currency at highly subsidized rates and the government aimed to prevent the exports of tires produced with subsidized foreign currency, he said, adding that after the end of the subsidy scheme in 2020, the industry resumed exports to other countries once again.
He said that the Iranian tire producers managed to export their products to some neighboring countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan, in the very first months.
Abdolmaleki also said that the Iranian tire producers exported products to Azerbaijan and Armenia in the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21 – June 21) and even tried to open representative offices in the two countries.
He noted that an Iranian company has a €2 million contract on the table for tire exports to Russia while saying that the contract is facing a money transfer problem as the Russians are seeking to pay the Iranian company in ruble.
“We believe that Russia will be a good market for us,” he said.
He also said that Iran is seeking to make tire exports to East Europe via land borders by trucks which he believed would have its own difficulties.