Iran cuts its agricultural import bill by 50%: minister

Gholamreza Nouri said on Sunday that Iran’s agricultural imports had reached around $8 billion in the calendar year to late March, down from $19 billion reported in the previous year.

“We reduced the currency needed for imports of basic goods by $11 billion last year without creating any debt,” Nouri stated, Press TV reported. 

The minister said that Iran had reached complete self-sufficiency in the production of agricultural products like sugar and red meat in the past calendar year.

He said that Iran’s agriculture sector had expanded by 3.2% in the year to late March, adding that the share of agriculture in Iran’s gross domestic product had also increased by one percentage point to 7%.

Nouri said that Iran’s agricultural exports had also increased by 33% in the year to March, adding that the country had narrowed its agricultural trade deficit from $11 billion to $8 billion over the same period.

He said that agricultural productivity in Iran had improved by 4.5% while the mechanization rate in the sector had expanded by 0.7% in the year to late March.

Iranian government figures show the country has an agriculture output of more than 130 million metric tons.

Figures released by Iran’s customs office in April showed that the country had exported some $5.2 billion worth of agricultural products, including $1.5 billion worth of pistachios, in the year to March 20, up 29% from the year before./mehr