BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 5
By Elnur Bagishov – Trend:
Iran's saffron exports increased by 4 percent during the first 5 months of the current Iranian year (March 30-August 21, 2020) compared to the same period last Iranian year, Deputy Director of the Iran’s National Saffron Council Gholamreza Miri told Young Journalists Club (YJC), Trend reports.
Miri emphasized that however, if there were no problems with the rules governing the return of part of export earnings to the Iranian economy, this increase could have been 40 percent.
The deputy director added that saffron exporters expect the Central Bank of Iran to change the rules related to the return of currency that is earned from exports to the Iranian economy.
"Because the exporters are forced to sell foreign currency at the NIMA rate and thus, they lose 30,000-40,000 rials (about 71-95 cent) per dollar. In this case, exporters do not have the opportunity to compete with saffron smugglers. Because they sell saffron for $100-$150 cheaper," he said.
According to Miri, at present, the minimum price of 1 kg of saffron in Iran is 60 million rials (about $1,428), and the maximum price is 120 million rials (about $2,857).
Iran exported $38.6 million worth of saffron within three months (March 20-May 20, 2020).
The exporters in various sectors in Iran must sell a portion of their currency earnings from exports to Iranian banks at the NIMA exchange rate.