Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4
By Khalid Kazimov – Trend:
The wholesale prices of various types of domestically produced rice have dropped by at least 10 percent in the country.
Aliakbar Mehrfard, an Iranian deputy minister of agriculture, has said the prices of domestic rice have dropped between 10 and 18 percent compared to the same time of last year, ISNA news agency reported.
Saying that a further fall in the prices would implicit damage on the farmers, he added that the ministry in order to provide support for the domestic farmers has decided to purchase the product.
Iranian farmers provide about two third of the country’s required rice and about 30 percent of the product is imported.
The decline in the prices has appeared in a situation that the production costs have jumped by ten percent, the official said.
Iran imported about one million tons of rice over the first half of the current fiscal year (starting March 20).
While various types of home-grown rice range in price from 80,000 rials to 150,000 rials, the prices of imported rice stand at about 80,000 rials.