TEHRAN, Iran, Dec.26
Trend:
Red meat price has been reduced in Iran, but the low income families still can not afford to buy it, Managing Director of Iran’s Central Union of Animal Farmers Saeed Soltani told Trend.
The price of livestock (calf) per kilo was 410,000 rials (about $9.7) last Iranian year (started March 21, 2018), while currently the price has dropped by 40 percent to 250,000 rial (about $5.9) due to red meat import, the managing director said.
"However, the red meat import price has not changed drastically and that indicates that dealers affect the prices before the product reaches the consumer. The dealers are not satisfied with little profit, while the producers sell their livestock with 10 percent profit," Soltani said.
"It's not possible to keep breeding livestock for more than 120 days, but in current market the livestock is kept even 10 days more, so extra feed is giving to them to increase the meat quality and weight," the official added.
"The Sixth Development Plan (2016-2021) forecasts annual red meat consumption at 12.5 kilos per person, and currently it is around 11 kilos," Soltani said.
"Meantime, red meat is a luxurious commodity for those who have no purchase power. There must a plan to provide meat to everyone, but given foreign currency chaos, the livestock is even smuggled abroad," he noted.
The country has produced about 895,000 tons of red meat in last Iranian year and more than 160,000 tons of the commodity has been imported from Brazil, Australia and Romania.
Smuggling of domestic livestock out of Iran, mainly to Iraq due to devaluation of national currency, has caused the increase of meat prices in Iran and led to long queues at markets where people can buy imported meat at official rate.