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Hedge funds provide $360 mln revolving capital for Iranian agriculture sector

Business Materials 24 May 2014 17:21 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 24

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

Hedge funds provided $360 million revolving capital for Iranian agriculture sector in the past year.

The Iranian solar year starts on March 20.

Abdolkarim Razavi Ardakani, Managing Director of Agricultural Support Hedge Funds Holding Company, said the budget rose by 25 percent year on year, Iran's ISNA news agency reported on May 24.

The hedge funds were established 10 years ago, he said, adding that $25 million worth loans were issued to farmers, mainly to fish farmers last year.

USD official exchange rate in Iran is currently about 25,550 rials.

Iran exported $5.2 billion worth of food and agricultural products and imported $13.2 billion worth of the products in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2014, the Iranian Customs Administration said in early May.

Meanwhile, ISNA quoted Kaveh Zargaran, Secretary General of the Association of Iranian Food Industries as saying that food and agricultural trade accounted for 20.2 percent of the country's total non-oil trade in the past Iranian calendar year.

Pistachios, tomato paste, yoghurt, ice cream, fruit juice, candies and biscuits, as well as cheese were the main items exported from Iran, he said.

Rice, soy meal, corn fodder, unrefined sugar, frozen meat, banana, and packed butter were the main items imported to Iran, he added.

Earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that mismanagement led to devastating effects in the agricultural sector, which has always been under the government's support.

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