TEHRAN – A board member of Iran Dairy Industries Society (IDIS) has said establishing milk processing plants (refineries) across the country is going to increase Iran’s annual dairy exports up to $2.7 billion, IRNA reported.

“Despite the fact that the plan for building milk refineries was chosen as a national plan in the economic headquarters, the plan has been postponed so far,” Gholam-Ali Soleimani said.

Iran was the largest net exporter of dairy in Asia in 2022, according to figures reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

In a report published in late June, FAO put Iran’s dairy exports last year at 1.583 million metric tons (mt) while estimating that the country had imported only 86,000 mt of such products over the same period.

The figures, from FAO’s Food Outlook, a biannual report on global food markets, showed that Iran’s dairy exports accounted for 17 percent of the total milk and dairy exports by Asian countries in 2022.

Dairy exports from Iran accounted for 13 percent of the country’s total milk and dairy production last year which reached 7.840 million mt, showed FAO figures which indicated that the output may drop slightly in 2023 to 7.820 million mt.

Iran has introduced extensive measures to ensure food security in the country since 2018 when its oil exports came under American sanctions.

The country has encouraged increased production and exports of agrifood as part of its plans to reduce reliance on oil exports and to create jobs for its population.

EF/MA