Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iranian Customs Administration has lifted the ban on rice import until July 23, 2017, Mehr news agency reports.
The Iranian government bans rice import annually with only a few months of break to support domestic products.
The latest ban which was imposed on July 21, 2016 was removed Dec. 21, 2016.
Iranian administration has recently decreased a 32-percent import tariff on rice import to 5 percent.
The annual consumption of rice in Iran is 3 million tons. Iran produces 2.2 million tons and imports 800,000 tons from India, Pakistan and Uruguay.
Iran imported 620,000 tons of rice, worth $520 million during the first eight months of the current fiscal year (started March 20, 2016). About 150,000 tons of rice was imported to the country during the ban period.