TEHRAN, Iran, Sep. 20
Trend:
The significant decrease in Iran's domestic rice production due to drought forced Iran's Government Trading Company to provide the market with foreign rice, Trend reports citing IRNA.
Iran's Government Trading Company announced that the country's rice production has decreased by 18.5 percent.
In order to protect rice farmers, the government is obliged to restrict rice imports for a certain period, the GTC said in the statement.
Accordingly, the necessary forecasts have been made to compensate for the reduction in rice production, the GTC said adding that in the first phase, the Company plans to distribute 100,000 tons of imported rice from India, Pakistan, and Thailand.
The seasonal ban imposed on rice imports has been lifted in the current Iranian year (started on March 21) as per the decision of the Market Regulation Headquarters, affiliated with the Ministry of Industries, Mining, and Trade.
According to Iranian media, Iran’s annual rice consumption stands at about three million tons. That means nearly 400,000 tons of the product are required to be imported into the country.
More than 90 percent of Iran’s rice is produced in the northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran, and less than 10 percent of the commodity is produced in the provinces of Isfahan, Ilam, Kurdistan, Khouzestan, and so on.