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Iran’s rice imports increase by 113 percent

Business Materials 3 November 2013 17:25 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 3 /Trend N. Umid/

Iran imported some 1.268 million tons of rice, valued at $1.464 billion, during the first seven months of the current solar year (started on March 21), which indicates an increase of 78 and 113.59 percent in terms of volume and value respectively, compared to the same period of the last solar year.

According to the Iranian Custom Administration's latest monthly report released in November, India (with $1.016 billion worth of exports), the United Arab Emirates (with $ 149.093 million worth of exports), and Turkey (with $ 138.481 million worth of exports) were the main exporters of rice to Iran.

Iran has imported some 166,653 tons of rice, worth $174.151 million during the last Iranian calendar month (September 23- October 22) which indicates an increase by 2.25 percent in terms of volume and decrease by 11.93 percent in terms of value compared to the preceding month.

Iran's rice import during the first six months of the current solar year stood at 1.101 million tons.

The figure stood at 930,000 tons during the five-month period of the current calendar year.

"Some 2.25 million tons of rice was produced in the county in the previous year. So by importing 930,000 tons in the first five months of the current year, the total amount of Iran's stored rice has reached 3.18 million tons," the director of the Iranian rice producers association, Jamil Alizadeh Shayeq said Fars in mid-September.

"Importing such a large amount of rice will certainly create disorder in the market," he added.

"If the current trend continues, the country's imports would be way more than domestic needs and that will cause great problems for the domestic rice farmers," he added.

In December 2012, Mehdi Kaboli, an official with the country's Agricultural Ministry, said that annual rice consumption in Iran stands around 2.8 million tons.

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