Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 10
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
Iran has banned rice imports after August 22, 2019, said Masoud Basiri, head of the Main Directorate for Market and Strategic Reserves Management of the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture Jihad, Trend reports via ILNA.
He said that the ministry bans rice imports every year from August 22 to December 21 in order to support domestic producers.
In order to eliminate the shortage of rice in the consumer market, the amount of currency allocated for rice imports increased by 11.2 percent compared to last Iranian year (started March 21, 2017), he noted.
About 2-2.2 million tons of rice are produced in Iran, he said. The necessary volume of imported rice is estimated at 800-1.1 million tons, given consumption of 37.7 kilograms of rice per capita, he noted.
“Despite the sanctions, fortunately, strategic reserves of all necessary products, including rice, are at a very good levels, thanks to the programs implemented earlier,” he added.
“From the beginning of this Iranian year (started March 21, 2018), 1.117 million tons of rice were imported,” he said. “This is while about 1 million 113 million tons of rice were imported in the same period last year.”