Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 29
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Iran needs to import about 800,000 tons of rice by March 21, the secretary of Iran's rice association, Jamil Alizadeh Shayegh said.
However the agricultural ministry estimates that the country needs to import one million tons of rice, he added, Mehr news agency reported.
According to the official Iran imported about 434,000 tons of rice between 21 March and 22 October.
He added that the government, after considering the level of production and deficit in the market issues, permits for private sector to import rice.
However he criticized the government and the agricultural ministry for issuing excessive permits for importing rice.
Iran was one of the biggest export markets for Indian basmati in the last two years, with close to 40 percent of exports, which totals around 2.2 million tons.
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