Azerbaijan-Iran trade exchange via railway up 33%

The exchange of goods between Iran and Azerbaijan recorded a 33% growth in the last nine months, a senior railroad official in Iran said, Report informs, citing Caspian News.

“The exchange of non-oil products via rail between Tehran and Baku increased by 33% from March 21 to December 22, 2023, compared to the same period last year,” Gholam-Hossein Valadi, director general of Iran’s North Railway Administration-2, said, referring to the volume of imports, exports and the transit of cargo at the Astara Border Terminal.

Nearly 498,000 tons of goods were exchanged at the Astara Border Terminal, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on January 11.

He added that 152,268 tons of non-oil products were imported into Iran from Azerbaijan via rail in this period, showing about a 63% hike year-on-year. He stated that over 93,000 tons of goods had been imported into Iran from Azerbaijan from March 21 to December 22, 2022.

More than 136,000 tons of goods were exported from Iran via the Astara Border Terminal through the rail network between March 21 and December 22, 2023.

The official said that cement, chemicals, tiles and food products were among the main products exported to Azerbaijan via rail, while wood, lumber, chemicals, grains, etc. were among the most important products imported from Azerbaijan.

According to the Azerbaijan Railways company, the volume of cargo traffic through Azerbaijan’s Astara terminal near the Iran border in 2023 was about 700,000 tons.

Currently, the construction of a single-span road bridge, a three-span Kemerband bridge, four single-span railway bridges, 10 service buildings and two platforms is underway at the terminal. When these works are completed in 2024, the cargo handling capacity will increase to 3.5-4 million tons per year,” the report added.