5-Month Ban on Rice Imports Every Year

Rice imports are banned in Iran every year from late June to late November to support local farmers and domestic production, Minister of Agriculture Mahmoud Hojjati said.

“Domestic production stands at about 2.2 million tons per annum, but this does not suffice demand. We need imports, but imports that are limited and controlled. On this note, we plan to increase tariffs on rice import to 40%,” Hojjati was quoted by the Persian newspaper Iran as saying.

Iranians eat 3 million tons of rice a year. The two northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran are home to a majority of Iran’s paddy fields.