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Iran estimates next year’s chicken export to hit 100,000 tons

Business Materials 23 February 2015 17:54 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 23

By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:

Iranian Deputy Minister of Agriculture Hassan Rokni has said that Iran expects to export over 100,000 metric tons of chicken meat in the next Iranian fiscal year (starting Mar. 21), IRNA news agency reported Feb. 23.

Rokni made the statement in a meeting with officials from the South African Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

He noted that Iran is the seventh country in the world with large chicken meat production facilities, adding that Iran became independent of importing chicken two years ago.

A 2013 report quoted Saeid Soltani-Sarvestani, then managing director of the national union of animal farmers, as saying that Iran was near to attain self-sufficiency in producing red meat as just 10 percent of the domestic need was at that time imported.

At that time Iran had stored 85-90,000 tons of chicken meat and exported consignments of the product to Iraq and Afghanistan.

"This year (Iranian fiscal year from Mar. 21, 2014 to date) about 900,000 metric tons of eggs were produced in the country, of which over 60,000 metric tons were exported," he said.

Each year about 800,000 metric tons of red meat is produced in Iran, most of which is mutton and beef. Due to religious codes, no pork is produced in Iran.

He added that the ministry is also investing in the production of turkey and duck meat.

Edited by CN

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