Iran Q1 Dairy Exports Up 70%

Some 300,000 tons of dairy products were exported from Iran during the first three months of the current fiscal year (March 21-June 21), registering a 70% increase compared with the corresponding period of last year, a deputy agriculture minister said.

“Our main export destinations over the period were Russia and some Eurasian and European countries,” Hassan Rokni was also quoted as saying by IRNA.

The official added that last year, close to 850,000 tons of dairy products were exported.

In fact, dairy products had the biggest share in Iran’s food exports in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2017).

According to Kaveh Zargaran, chairman of Agriculture Commission of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, last year’s dairy exports earned $773 million.

Among the exported products, yogurt topped the list with $218 million, followed by cheese with $187 million, powdered milk with $129 million, and cream and ice cream with $120 million.

According to FAO, Iran is among the medium-consumption countries with a dairy consumption rate of 30 to 150 kg per capita per year. Other countries in this category include India, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, New Zealand and South Africa, as well as most of the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean. Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Costa Rica, Europe, Kyrgyzstan, North America and Pakistan are among high-consumption countries, consuming more than 150 kg per capita per year.

The low-consumption countries and regions consuming under 30 kg per capita per year include Senegal, most of Central Africa and most of East and Southeast Asia.