Baku, Azerbaijan, May. 1
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
An Iranian member of parliament (MP) has criticized the government for importing rice into the country.
MP for Sari City Mohammad Damadi has said that importing rice into the country inflicts damage on domestic farmers, Mehr news agency reported.
According to the MP, over the last five years Iran annually imported $1.568 billion worth of rice from India and Turkey.
He further called on the country's agricultural ministry and the government to back domestic production.
In total, Iran imported 740,000 tons of rice over the last Iranian calendar year (ended March 20).
Meanwhile, Iran's rice imports fell by 40 percent over the last year compared to the previous year.
Over the last year Iran barred importing rice due to excessive amount of rice stored in the country. However, later in the same year the country's agriculture ministry lifted the ban on rice imports.
Over the last Iranian calendar year, the country imported $41.5 billion worth of goods, 22.5 percent less year on year. The volume of country's imports accounted for 35.1 million tons, indicating 18.5 percent fall.
The most important imported goods by Iran were: livestock corn worth $1.4 billion with 3.4 percent share of overall imports, wheat ($867 million, a two percent share), soybean ($728 million, 1.8 percent share), rice ($680 million, 1.64 percent) and soybean meal ($672 million, 1.62 percent).