TEHRAN, Iran, May.31
Trend:
The secretary of the Rice Importers' Association Masih Keshavarz announced that all the rice that has been stuck at the ports, will be cleared and the importers will be allowed to carry on with their business, Trend reports via ILNA.
“On average, the country needs to import 1.5 million tons of rice per year,” Keshavarz said. “The ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade has decided to let importers import the rice into the country in order to balance the price.”
He said that the lack of seriousness of the Central Bank in this matter and the delay of the CBI in providing foreign currency at an acceptable rate, will cause new problems for importers.
“We asked the Deputy Minister of Industry to warn the Central Bank,” he said adding that if the currency at the official rate will not be allocated to import of rice, the local market will face new challenges.
Based on the new policies of the Ministry of Industry, rice in Iran has been removed from the group of commodity goods since early May. As a result, rice was no longer eligible to have official foreign currency rate allocated for its purchase. This led to goods being stuck at the customs.
Last Iranian year (ended on March 21), imposition of customs restrictions, prohibition of imports of the luxury goods and closure of production units at border areas in Iran became problems the businesses had to face.