Baku, Azerbaijan, April 17
By Gazenfer Hamidov – Trend:
Iran imported more food and agricultural products during the last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2018), compared to the preceding year, Kaveh Zargaran, the Secretary General of the Federation of Iranian Food Associations, said.
Zargaran said that the Islamic Republic imported 18 million tons of foods and agricultural products during the 12-mont period, 8 percent more year-on-year.
Zargaran who heads the Agricultural Commission in the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, told reporters that the value of Iran’s agricultural and food products’ imports increased by 14 percent to $9.8 billion in the last fiscal year.
Over half of Iran’s imports in this sector falls on corn fodder, rice, soybeans, meat and meal, he said.
Corn fodder worth $1.6 billion, rice worth $1.2 billion, soybean worth $943 million, banana worth $544 million, meat worth $524 million, barley worth $518 million, meal worth $503 million and crude vegetable oil worth $424 million topped the list of Iran’s agricultural and food imports in last fiscal year, Zargaran added.
He further said that Iran’s barley imports registered the highest growth in last fiscal year and witnessed an increase by 96 percent in terms of value, year-on-year.
The value of rice and crude vegetable oil imports increased by 76 and 68 percent respectively, meanwhile Iran’s meat import saw a 53 percent growth in the period, Zargaran noted.
Iran imported 38.736 million tons of goods, worth $54.302 billion during the last fiscal year, 24.3 percent more year-on-year, in terms of value.
Iranian officials say that the country’s annual agricultural products stand at 120 million tons, worth $80 million.
The figure includes 82 million tons of crops, 20 million tons of horticultural products, 14 million tons of livestock and over one million tons of fishery products.