Iran can expect further growth in its dairy sector in 2015, with Russia becoming a major export market due to trade sanctions with the West.

In the meantime, there is also a possibility that, despite being self-sufficient in milk, Iran will increase its dairy imports from the Republic of Ireland.

Simon Coveney, the Irish Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, recently said he will be heading a trade mission to Iran this year to promote more Irish milk exports to that country.

In 2013, Ireland's dairy exports to Iran dropped to US$2.4 million, compared to US$4.1 million in 2012. In the same year, infant formula exports were virtually zero, posting a mere US$131,541.

"Given its population, I am confident Iran will be a growing market for exports of dairy products," Coveney said, adding there is great trade potential between the two countries in the dairy, processed food and meat sectors."

Coveney seems to have a point. Annual per capita of milk consumption in Iran is only about half of the international average.

Mohammad Farbod, deputy head of the Iran Dairy Industries Society, said during a 2014 interview the annual global per capita consumption is 165kg.  Iran's per capita milk consumption is only between 85kg and 90kg annually, he said.

In 2010, Iran was declared by UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as self-sufficient in milk production and capable of exporting milk to other countries. According to Hossein Chamani, the managing director of Dairy Industries Company, the country witnessed in recent years an increase in output of about 8.2 million tonnes of raw milk annually.

Chamani, however, noted that local dairy companies have hurdles to overcome.

Iranian milk products, according to him, are not even well-received by its own people. The lack of popularity for such products, including inadequate foreign interests, had led several dairy companies to operate below capacity or shutter operations.

It also does not help that Iran's dairy importation had slid since 1996 even before achieving its self-sufficiency status.

On the other hand, the country's exports have big potential.

Despite some difficulties in the dairy sector, the country managed to export US$670 million worth to 24 countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and other Persian Gulf states, as well as Canada and Singapore in 1996, Chamani said.

This feat could be duplicated given the right approach, he said, especially with Russia's current trade sanctions against the west.

According to Iran's agricultural minister, Mahmoud Hojjati, steps are being taken by the government to help local companies boost their exports to Russia.