TEHRAN – The director general of the Iranian Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry’s Office of Food and Drug Industries has said the ministry has revived 318 idle production units active in the pharmaceutical and food sectors in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19).

“We haven’t just stop at reviving, but we monitored and evaluated these units through the Ministry’s provincial organizations to solve possible challenges in their production,” Nazanin Darabzadeh told IRIB.

According to Darabzadeh, there are currently over 8,900 food and medicine production units across the country which provide employment for more than 400,000 people.

The official noted that the production of the food sector increased by 10 percent in the previous Iranian calendar year, while in the medicine and pharmaceutical sector, the production growth was six percent compared to a year earlier.

She also mentioned a 10 percent growth in the export of food products and added: “Exports in this area increased from 1.9 billion dollars in [the Iranian calendar year] 1401 (March 2021-March 2022) to 2.11 billion dollars in the previous year.

“Medicine exports increased from 100 million dollars in 1401 to 130 million dollars in 1402, which shows a 30 percent growth,” she said.

Darabzadeh further announced a 12 percent decrease in the import of food products last year and added: “Imports in this area decreased from 3.8 billion dollars in 1401 to 3.4 billion dollars in 1402.”

EF/MA