TEHRAN - The Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) has banned any registration for imports of rice as of the beginning of the next Iranian calendar month of Shahrivar (August 22) until further notice.

As Mehr News Agency reported, IRICA Deputy Head Mehrdad Jamal Orounaqi told a local radio program that the plan for the seasonal ban on rice imports, which aims at supporting the domestic farmers, should have been implemented in the beginning of the current Iranian calendar month (July 22) but was postponed to the next month.

According to Orounaqi, nearly 800,000 tons of rice was imported into the country and was cleared from various customs in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19).

The official noted that rice imports have decreased by about 20 percent in the current year, saying: “About 390,000 tons of rice has been cleared through customs, while some cargoes are still stored in customs.”

According to the Secretary of Iran Rice Association Jamil Alizadeh Shayeq, Iranian farmers managed to produce 2.6 million tons of rice during the past Iranian calendar year 1398.

The country’s rice production stood between 2.2 and 2.3 million tons in the preceding year 1397 (March 2018-March 2019) and the increase in the production consequently decreased the imports of the commodity.

Iran’s annual rice consumption stands at about three million tons. That means nearly 400,000 tons of the product is required to be imported into the country, according to Shayeq.

However, customs data show that nearly 700,000 tons of rice was imported into the country in the first quarter of the previous year (March 21-June 21, 2019).

More than 90 percent of Iran’s rice is produced in the northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran, and less than 10 percent of the commodity is produced in the provinces of Isfahan, Ilam, Kurdistan, Khouzestan and so on.

Based on official statistics, over 620,000 hectares of the country’s agricultural lands are under rice cultivation, of which 520,000 hectares are in Mazandaran, Gilan and Golestan provinces.

EF/MA