Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade (MIMT) has removed exports tariffs for potato amid an oversupply in the country which is expected to intensify during the current harvesting season.
The current oversupply of potato is expected to increase as harvesting season for the crop normally ends in Iran November, Mohammad Reza Kalami head of the ministry’s domestic trade department said.
Kalami said the government would consider a delay for return of proceedings gained from exports to further incentivize potato exporters.
He said removing the duty on exports had come in response to a request by potato exporters in Iran.
It also comes as agricultural authorities in key potato-growing provinces, including in Hamedan in the west and in Ardabil in northwest Iran, had warned they were running out of storage space for surplus potato production.
Iran ranked 13th in the world last year in terms of the volume of potato produced as total output reached over 5.1 million metric tons from 160,000 hectares of lands, according to figures by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The output of the staple crop is expected to grow in the upcoming years as farmers are using modern cultivation and irrigation technologies to increase production to nearly 70 tons per hectare.
Iran’s potato exports are mainly aimed at neighboring countries, including to Russia, Azerbaijan and Iraq.