Iran recorded an agrifood trade deficit of $5.78 billion in the first nine months of the last Iranian year (March 21, 2019-Jan. 20), which has widened by 100% compared with last year's corresponding period.
More than 5.69 million tons of agricultural and food products worth $4.67 billion were exported from Iran during the 10-month period to register a 14.5% decline in value compared with last year's corresponding period, according to the latest report released by the National Agriculture and Water Strategic Research Center, which draws on data provided by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
Agrifood exports accounted for 4.9% and 13.2% of the total volume and value of Iran's non-oil exports of 115 million tons valued at $35.5 billion respectively during the period, the news portal of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture reported.
The exports mainly included fruits worth $1.57 million, vegetables worth $1.05 billion, milk and dairy products worth $325.9 million, milk and dairy worth $358.1 million, saffron worth $230.7 million and fish and shrimps worth $190.5 million, accounting for 33.7%, 22.4%, 7.7%, 5% and 4.1% of the total value of agrifood exports during the period under review respectively.
Each ton of agrifood exports was valued at $821 on average, which is 166.6% more than the price of each ton of non-oil exports ($308) over the period.
Imports of agrifood products during the same period stood at 19.68 million tons valued at $10.46 billion, which shows a 25.2% rise in value compared with the corresponding period of the preceding year.
The imports accounted for 17.1% and 29.4% of the total volume and value of Iran’s total non-oil imports of 28 million tons worth $36 billion respectively.
The main imported agrifood products during the period included corn ($1.7 billion), rice ($1.39 billion), vegetable oils ($1.07 billion), soybeans ($842.4 million), oilcake ($800 million), barley ($772.4 million), red meat ($663.4 million), sugar and sugar cubes ($577.7 million), tea ($346.5 million) and fruits ($299.4 million) accounting for 16.3%, 13.3%, 10.3%, 8.%, 7.6%, 7.4%, 6.3%, 5.5%, 3.3% and 2.9% of all agrifood imports during the 10 months respectively.
The above-listed products accounted for 80.3% of the total value of agrifood imports over the period.
Each ton of agrifood imports was valued at around $536, which was 69% less than the price of each ton of imported non-oil products over the same period ($776).
