Food Production Goals Examined

Members of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture’s Agriculture, Water and Food Industries Commission examined the goals of the sixth five-year development plan (2017-22) for the food sector.

According to the minutes of the meeting published by TCCIM’s news portal, if the food sector is to maintain last year’s (March 2016-17) 13% share in Iran’s non-oil exports, it needs to export more than $14.5 billion worth of products annually by the end of the development plan’s period.

Iran exported 1.178 million tons of food products worth $2.7 billion to more than 80 countries during the fiscal 2016-17, registering an 8% increase in value compared with the year before.

Dairy products had the biggest share in Iran’s food exports last year, reaching 387,000 tons worth $634 million during the year, up by 9.3% and 19% in volume and value respectively year-on-year.

It was stated at the Monday meeting that meat production needs to increase from the current 806,000 tons to 899,000 tons per year, marking a 2% increase.

Assuming that the current per capita meat consumption of 11 kilograms endures, 970,000 tons need to be supplied per annum by the deadline. This, in turn, necessitates the import of 71,000 tons of meat in the final year of the plan, down from the last fiscal year’s 94,680 tons.

Raw milk production is estimated to increase from last year’s 9.14 million tons to 11.89 million tons by the deadline.

The target set for chicken production is close to 2.5 million tons per year by March 2022, up from last year’s 2.09 million tons.

Egg production is stipulated to increase from last year’s 940,000 tons to more than 1.1 million tons, registering a 3.4% rise.

The five-year development plans, prepared by the Management and Planning Organization in consultation with the parliament and the Guardians Council, provide the broad directions for a wide range of economic reforms and social priorities.