The seasonal ban on rice imports will not be enforced in the current year, says the deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, Mehrdad Jamal Arvanaqi.
Every year, during the rice harvest season, the government bans rice imports in support of local farmers and domestic production. The ban usually begins in August and lasts until November.
The customs official explained that the measure is taken in the wake of rising prices in the domestic market, ISNA reported.
According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the average price of first-grade Iranian rice rose by 126.8% in the month to May 21 compared to the similar period of last year.
A kilogram of first-grade Iranian rice was sold at 819,612 rials ($2.5) during the period.
Local Production Meets 70% of Demand
Rice consumption in Iran currently stands around 3 million tons per year, 70% of which are supplied through domestic production, according to a deputy agriculture minister.
“The ministry plans to increase local production by contract-based cultivation, distributing adequate high-quality inputs, including fertilizers and pesticides, and providing high-yield seeds to farmers,” Alireza Mohajer was also quoted as saying by IRIB News.
The official added that the government also plans to increase the mechanization coefficient in rice production.
Contract-based cultivation of rice has been launched in Iran this year (started March 21) for the first time and more than 6,322 hectares of paddy fields have joined the scheme so far, the CEO of the Central Organization for Rural Cooperatives, affiliated with the Agriculture Ministry, said in April.
“We estimate that a total of 15,805 tons of rice will be produced under the scheme that is being carried out in the northern provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan. Up until now, we have distributed over 1,100 tons of seeds among farmers taking part in the plan,” Esmaeil Qaderifar was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
Agricultural Production Insurance Fund, he added, has insured all of these contracts.
“Seeds, fertilizers and pesticides are supplied to farmers as part of the contract-based production scheme. The government plans to expand the scheme to all strategic agricultural products.”
A total of 2.25 million tons of rice were produced in Iran during the last Iranian year (March 2021-22), according to the deputy head of Iran Rice Union.
“According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, more than 1.2 million tons of rice were imported last year,” Ahmad Eshraqi was also quoted as saying by the Young Journalists Club.
Masih Keshavarz, secretary of Rice Importers Union, said although global rice prices, particularly in Pakistan and India, are relatively stable, yet prices in Iran’s market have been on the rise for a while. He blames public bodies that do not cooperate in coordinating import procedures, especially the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration and the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran.
The three northern provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan are Iran’s rice production hubs.
Director General of Grains and Essential Goods Bureau with the Agriculture Ministry Faramak Aziz-Karimi said there are 654,000 hectares of paddy fields scattered across the country, 440,000 hectares of which are located in the three northern provinces.
A domestically-produced rice seedling planter was unveiled in Iran recently. It can plant 1.2 hectares of paddy fields with seedlings per day.
FAO Forecasts Iran’s Rice Imports to Double in 2022
Iran’s rice imports are expected to double to 1.8 million tons in 2022 from 0.9 million tons in 2021, says the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
In its biannual report on global food markets, FAO says Iran imported an average of 1.3 million tons of rice during the 2018-20 period.
Production in 2022 is forecast to slightly decrease to 1.9 million tons from 2 million tons in 2021.
The 2018-20 average production has been put at 2.5 million tons.
Consumption is forecast to slightly increase from 3.6 million tons in 2021 to 3.7 million tons in 2022.
Average utilization during the crop years 2018-19 to 2020-21 stood at 3.6 million tons.
Average closing stocks in 2022-23, 2021-22, and 2018-19 to 2020-21 have been put at 0.6, 0.5 and 0.7 million tons respectively.
According to FAO, per capita rice consumption in Iran stood at 38.5 kilograms per year in 2021-22. The figure is forecast to slightly rise to 38.6 kilograms.
The 2018-19 to 2020-21 average per capita has been put at 38.2 kilograms.
Limited availabilities of water for irrigation cloud rice production outlook for Iran, the report noted.
“International trade in rice is predicted to register its third successive annual increase in 2022 [January–December], with volumes exchanged across the world forecast to reach 53.1 million tons, up 3% from the 2021 all-time high. With the exception of the Asian Far East, most regions are anticipated to step up their imports over the course of the year, often aided by state efforts to contain inflationary pressure. Such steps have taken the form of import duty remissions in various African and Latin American countries, or of an acceleration of government-contracted imports, as has been most notably the case of Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the report said.
