TEHRAN, Iran, Sept. 12
Trend:
The secretary of the Iran`s Association of Rice Importers Masih Keshavarz announced the reduction in foreign rice due to increase in prices, Trend reports citing ILNA.
"Out of the total 700,000 tons of rice imported into the country, the importers received foreign exchange currency for about 500,000 to 600,000 tons,” Keshavarz said.
“One of the factors in pricing of rice is the rate of foreign currency allocated to rice imports,” he said, adding that rice has been transferred from commodity group one to commodity group two, and this increased the price of foreign rice by almost 100 percent.
He noted that people used to buy foreign rice for about $1.7 per kilogram, but now the imported rice price reaches over $4.5 per kilogram, and this the reduces demand.
Pointing to the 48-percent drop in imports of rice he said that since the coronavirus outbreak, all countries have stopped exporting rice, including India.
He went on to criticize the non-allocation of foreign currency at the official rate (42,000 rials per US dollar) to import of rice.