Iran’s First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber has called for necessary planning to produce rice, noting that the country’s next year imports of the grain will be subject to insufficient domestic production, IRNA news agency reported.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Government Trading Corporation (GTC) of Iran says that wheat purchases from domestic farmers in Iran has reached 7.297 million metric tons (mt) since purchases began in late April.
Iran exported 2.07 million tons of agricultural and food products worth $1.3 billion during the first quarter of the current Iranian year (March 21-June 21), new data released by the Agriculture Ministry show.
A total of 1.87 million tons of different kinds of livestock feed worth $887 million were imported to Iran during the first two months of the current calendar year (March 21-May 21), according to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
The Agriculture Ministry has banned rice imports until further notice, saying the measure is aimed at giving support to local farmers and balancing supply and demand in the market, deputy agriculture minister, Shapour Alaei, announced.
Atotal of 18.5 tons of farmed caviar and 4,600 tons of sturgeon meat were produced in Iran in the fiscal 2022-23 (ended March 20), according to an official of Iran Fisheries Organization.
Iranian government has bought more than 5 million metric tons (mt) of wheat from domestic farmers in the first 100 days of national wheat purchase operation, according to the country’s ministry of agriculture (MAJ).
Figures by the Iranian customs office (IRICA) show that rice imports into the country fell significantly in April-May compared to the same period last year.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has projected Iran to produce some 13 million metric tons (mt) of wheat in 2023 to remain the 13th biggest world producer of the grain.
Pistachio production and exports were halved in the last Iranian year (March 2022-23) due to a wide range of reasons, including drought and extreme weather, according to Arsalan Qasemi, the head of the Agriculture Commission of Iran Chamber of Cooperatives.