Baku, Azerbaijan, April 3
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Iran's Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Rahmani has announced a ban on the export of potatoes and onions in his letter to the Iranian Customs, to be put into effect starting from April 4, Trend reports referring to the website of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization.
Citing the regulation of the local market as the basis for the aforementioned decision, the Iranian minister stated that the ban on the export of potatoes and onions would stay in place until further notice.
On the other hand, Mohammad Mousavi, Head of the Disaster Management Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad of Iran, said that more than 45 trillion rials (app. $1.07 billion) worth of damage was caused to the agricultural sector of 12 Iranian provinces in 12 days.
According to Mousavi, the damage caused by floods in Golestan accounted for 36 percent of the total, followed by Khuzestan at 14 percent, Mazandaran at 13 percent, Lorestan at 12 percent, Fars at 7 percent, and the remaining 18 percent accounting for the damage inflicted on the provinces of Kermanshah, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiyari, Isfahan, North Khorasan, Semnan, and Sistan and Baluchestan.
About 5 million tons of potatoes are produced in Iran, 4.5 million tons of which are meant for domestic consumption, and 500,000 tons for exports.
Given the damage to agriculture, it is possible that the ban on potato and onion exports will last until the end of the summer.