Brazil ditching dollar to boost Iran trade

Brazil says it will ditch the dollar in trade with Iran to sidestep a US ban which prevents Tehran from using the American financial system.

Trade Minister Armando Monteiro has said Brazil seeks to boost business relations with Iran after the lifting of sanctions on Tehran, even though Washington has opted to maintain its “primary” embargo on the country.

“Everyone is racing after Iran now. The trade potential is very big,” Monteiro told Reuters on Tuesday.

He said Brazil will find ways to settle payments and the type of payment and currency in transactions with Iran which President Dilma Rousseff could visit this year.

Rousseff lifted sanctions against Iran last week after meeting with the Iranian ambassador, hoping to bolster trade between the two nations, which have enjoyed warm ties for years despite tensions with the West.

Latin America’s biggest economy aims to triple trade with Iran to $5 billion by 2019, Monteiro said.

He said Iran has already contacted Brazil’s Embraer, the world’s No. 3 commercial plane manufacturer, for the purchase of commercial jets for regional aviation.

Iran is eyeing the four models of Embraer’s E1 family of regional jets, because of their low maintenance costs, Reuters said, quoting an official spokesman for the company.

“Iran is a very interesting market because there is a lot of repressed demand and it is a huge country so there is great potential for regional aviation,” the spokesman said.

Monteiro said Iran is also interested in Brazilian cars and trucks as well as machinery to renew its oil refinery network.

He visited Tehran with a delegation of 60 traders and state officials through October 26-29 to discuss strengthening commercial ties.