A total of 1.75 million tons of rice were imported into Iran during the last fiscal year (March 2021-22), which is a 10-year record high, according to the secretary of Iran Rice Association.
“Last year’s imports were more than twice the volume needed to fill in the domestic production deficiency,” Jamil Alizadeh Shayeq was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Iran’s annual rice production currently stands close to 2.3 million tons, while domestic demand is around 3 million tons per year.
“Misleading information coming from officials about last year’s local production has led to this excessive volume of imports. Last year, production amounted to 2.25 million tons, which was 200,000 tons less than the year before but not much different from our normal annual output. In the fiscal 2020-21, high precipitation levels and favorable weather made production see an unexpected rise,” he said.
“Yet, officials kept saying that domestic production had fallen and the deficit [between supply and demand] has widened. This made it easier for those who benefit from imports to convince authorities and the customs administration to increase import levels to unprecedented and unnecessary levels.”
The official noted that in view of domestic consumption and production figures, rice import demand amounts to 750,000 tons, adding that usually rice consignments stored in warehouses from previous years also enter the market gradually.
“Since rice prices in the local market skyrocketed last year, intermediaries spread misinformation that this was because of a decline in imports. This, unfortunately, is where officials got the idea to allow more imports,” he added.
Middlemen Blamed
Shayeq blamed middlemen for the rising prices, declaring that they are wreaking havoc in the market.
Masih Keshavarz, secretary of Rice Importers Union, says although global rice prices, particularly in Pakistan and India, are relatively stable, prices in Iran’s market have been on the rise. He blamed public bodies who 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.
Latest data released by the Statistical Center of Iran show rice prices have more than doubled in the month to April 20 compared with the corresponding period of last year (114.6%).
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.
Agriculture Ministry Launches Contract-Based 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, according to the CEO of the Central Organization for Rural Cooperatives, affiliated with the Agriculture Ministry.
“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 participating in the plan,” Esmaeil Qaderifar was also quoted by ILNA as saying.
“The Agricultural Production Insurance Fund has ensured that all of these contracts are insured. 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,” he said.
