Tehran, Iran, June 19
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Some 350 small dairy factories have closed down in the past couple of years, according to Mohammad Reza Esmaili, former chairman of Iran’s Dairy Products Association.
There are 700 small diary factories in Iran, 350 of which are completely shut down and many others work partially, he told Tasnim news agency.
“The factories were built when dairy products started being given governmental subsidies and consumption was high. They went bankrupt as the subsidies were lifted and consumption plunged,” he said.
According to a national development plan, the government formerly targeted realizing a per capita diary consumption of 150 liters. However, the plan failed and the number currently stands at 70 liters. The nominal capacities of dairy factories in Iran is 220 liters per capita.
The subsidies were meant to be shifted from consumers to producers according to the national plan, something that has not been put to practice, Esmaili said.
The subsidies were lifted during the ruling of Iran President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. They were substituted by monthly cash payments to individual people.