Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 11 /Trend, N. Umid/
Iran imported some 1.101 million tons of rice, valued at $1.289 billion, during the first six months of the current solar year (which started on March 21), which indicates an increase of 75 and 117.17 percent in terms of volume and value respectively, compared to the same period of the last solar year, the website of the Islamic republic of Iran customs administrations (IRICA) reported.
India (with $922.24 million worth of exports), the United Arab Emirates (with $146.893 million worth of exports), and Turkey (with $115.465 million worth of exports) were the main exporters of rice to Iran.
Iran's rice import during the first five months of the current solar year stood at 930,000 tons.
"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.