More than 1 million tons of rice were imported into Iran during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 21-Sept. 22).
From the total imports, around 20% or 218,000 tons were imported by the Government Trading Corporation, IRNA reported.
GTC, affiliated with the Agriculture Ministry, is in charge of ensuring an adequate supply of essential goods, including wheat, rice and cooking oil to the local market.
The lion’s share of Iran’s rice imports come from India and neighboring Pakistan. The UAE, Thailand, Turkey and Iraq are other traditional rice exporters to Iran.
A total of 1.75 million tons of rice were imported into Iran during the fiscal 2021-22. The import volume set a 10-year record high, according to the secretary of Iran Rice Association.
“Last year’s imports was more than twice the volume the country needed to make for the domestic production deficiency,” Jamil Alizadeh Shayeq was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
A total of 2.25 million tons of rice were produced in Iran during the fiscal 2021-22, according to the deputy head of Iran Rice Union, Ahmad Eshraqi.
“According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, more than 1.2 million tons of rice were imported last year,” he was quoted by the Young Journalists Club as saying.
The three northern provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan are Iran’s rice production hubs.
Director General of Grains and Essential Goods Affairs Bureau with the Agriculture Ministry Faramak Aziz-Karimi said 654,000 hectares of paddy fields are scattered across the country, 440,000 hectares of which are located in the three northern provinces.
A total of 2.25 million tons of rice were produced in Iran during the last Iranian year (March 2021-22), according to the deputy head of Iran Rice Union.
“According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, more than 1.2 million tons of rice were imported last year,” Ahmad Eshraqi was quoted as saying by the Young Journalists Club.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations expects Iran’s rice production to reach 3 million tons in 2022, down from 3.1 million tons last year. Five-year average output has been put at 3.5 million tons.
In its biannual report on global food markets, FAO said Iran imported an average of 1.3 million tons of rice during the 2018-20 period.
The 2018-20 average production has been put at 2.5 million tons.
Consumption is forecast to slightly increase from 3.6 million tons in 2021 to 3.7 million tons in 2022.
Average utilization during crop years 2018-19 to 2020-21 stood at 3.6 million tons.
The average closing stocks pf 2022-23, 2021-22, and 2018-19 to 2020-21 have been put at 0.6, 0.5 and 0.7 million tons respectively.
The 2018-19 to 2020-21 average per capita has been put at 38.2 kilograms.
Limited availabilities of water for irrigation cloud rice production outlook for Iran, FAO’s report said.
“International trade in rice is predicted to register its third successive annual increase in 2022 [January–December], with volumes exchanged across the world forecast to reach 53.1 million tons, up 3% from the 2021 all-time high. With the exception of the Asian Far East, most regions are anticipated to step up their imports over the course of the year, often aided by state efforts to contain inflationary pressure. Such steps have taken the form of import duty remissions in various African and Latin American countries, or of an acceleration of government-contracted imports, as has been most notably the case of Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
