Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 11
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran imported 911,000 metric tons of rice in the first 9 months of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21-December 21, 2014).
Mojtaba Khosrotaj, Iranian Deputy Industry Minister, said the figure showed around 50 percent fall compared to the same period in the previous year, Iran's IRNA news agency reported on Jan. 11.
In the previous fiscal year, Iran imported 1.155 million metric tons of rice, he added.
According to Iran's Agriculture Ministry, per capita rice consumption is about 41 kilograms. So, the country needs around 3.3 million metric tons of rice annually, of which 1.7 million metric tons is produced domestically.
Iranian MP Mehrdad Baouj-Lahouti said in October 2014 that if the government buys the domestic farmers' rice at a fair price for one or two years, the country will become needless of imports and can even start exporting rice.
The country's rice output is expected to reach 2.4 million metric tons in the current Iranian calendar year.