Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 4
Trend:
Iran has decided to ban wholesale of staple food products to foreigners in Astara border city as the country’s national currency continue to lose its vale against the US dollar.
Mohen Ahani, head of the Industry, Mine and Trade department of Astara said that the decision was made by the Market Regulation Headquarter of the border city, IRNA news agency reported Sept. 4.
The administration has made the decision to prevent the major outflow of subsidized goods such as vegetable oil, sugar, rice, meat, poultry, and raw livestock products from the border, Ahani said.
The official said that the Customs Administration of Astara will supervise the implementation of the decree.
Earlier in July the Iranian government banned the export of 18 agricultural products “until further notice.”
These items included corn, wheat, flour, barley, oat, oilseeds, unprocessed oil, palm oil, alfalfa, straw and wheat straw, fish meal, bran, soybean meal, press cakes, fish feed, additives for fish feed, rye and sorghum.
The Iranian government also banned sugar export on September 3.
The move came after the Iranian minister of industry, mine and trade on June 20 banned the import of 1,339 commodities categorized as "non-essential goods with domestic counterparts".
The decisions came as a move to save foreign currency, after the Iranian rial plunged to a record low against the US dollar on the unofficial market after President Donald Trump in May withdrew from the nuclear deal with Tehran.
The US dollar jumped to as much as 129,000 rials in the open market in the Iranian capital city of Tehran yesterday.
According to reports by Iranian media outlets, a US dollar and the euro, respectively, traded for 129,000 and 149,000 rials in the open market in the afternoon on Monday, Sept. 3.
A US dollar was worth 36,000 rials in mid-September last year.