The secretary of the Iranian Rice Importers Association said: “Indian Rice imports have decreased by 80% compared to previous periods, which has led to a shortage of foreign rice in the market.”
The secretary of the Rice Importers Association, Masih Keshavarz said that rice imports have decreased by 80% compared to previous periods, which has led to a shortage of foreign rice in the market. We did not have a foreign exchange supply, we imported 798 thousand tons of foreign rice, while this year this figure has reached 80,000 tons, which means that we are facing an 80% decrease.
He added: “Free currency is allocated for the import of foreign rice, so there is no concern for Iranian rice, while high-yield Iranian rice comes to market in late September and we are facing peak demand in the first half of September, so import ban is possible.”
The secretary of the Rice Importers Association said: “One of the consequences of rice imports is the outflow of currency from the country, but more importantly, due to the four-month import restriction and ban, our importers’ orders enter the world market at the same time, which increases the global rice price.” Therefore, the decisions in this area must be complete and comprehensive, that is, just to support our domestic production, not to neglect the consumer, that if the plans were correct, the rice should have been available for supply for the four-month period of the import ban.
Keshavarz, stating that the responsibility of managing the market of agricultural products has been returned to the Ministry of Jihad since July 13, added: The Ministry of Jihad should be more sensitive in this regard compared to the Ministry of Silence.
He said: “The market regulation headquarters believes that the ban on seasonal rice imports should be lifted, so we are talking about the Ministry of Jihad, which in this regard, by making a rational decision, will provide the required rice and we will not have problems and shortages.”
The secretary of the Rice Importers Association, noting that foreign rice is consumed by 5 to 6 deciles of the society, added: “Any decision that is made about rice import should be taking into account these deciles.”
“In the one hundred and forty-first meeting of the Market Regulation Headquarters, when we presented our argument, the members of the headquarters agreed to lift the ban on rice imports, but left its implementation to the Ministry of Jihad Agriculture, but the Ministry of Jihad opposed this issue and So far nothing has happened and the ban on rice imports is to be applied for four months from July 22nd.”
Regarding the Ministry of Silence’s decision to clear imported rice before July 22nd, he added: “The Ministry of Silence’s decision to clear imported rice was the last aid of the Ministry of Silence so that we do not face the deposition of goods in the country.” But for reasons such as the non-issuance of the allocation code, they could not clear the goods during the import ban period.
The secretary of the Rice Importers Association said: “Currently, we have 30,000 to 40,000 tons of rice in the country’s customs, but the plan to import 10 60,000-ton ships has not been implemented yet due to the import ban decision, ie the goods have not been packaged and transported”. Postponed to after the ban period.
The farmer added that many importers had pre-purchased rice and that they might cancel their contracts and pay losses as the import ban continues.
He said: “If it is planned to import 100,000 to 150,000 tons of rice for the same four-month period, we will have no problem regulating the market.”
The secretary of the Rice Importers Association added: “Increasing the price of foreign rice will help increase the price of Iranian rice, which happens more with the shortage of foreign rice in the market, while we are currently in the Iranian rice harvest period and if there are no necessary controls, Iranian rice Will be removed from the consumer basket.”
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