Fish Feed Export Ban Lifted

EghtesadOnline: The ban on fish feed export has been lifted, the director general of Export Affairs Bureau with the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration said.

News ID: ۷۸۳۹۴۳

10 September 2018

Ali Akbar Shamani communicated this in a letter to customs offices nationwide on Tuesday.

The official added that permits have to be acquired from Iran Fisheries Organization to resume the product’s export, ILNA reported.

The government had decided in July to ban the export of 18 agricultural products “until further notice”. The move was aimed at putting an end to the reexport of essential goods imported into the country using subsidized foreign currency, according to Financial Tribune.

These items included corn, wheat, flour, barley, oat, oilseeds, unprocessed oil, palm oil, alfalfa, straw and wheat straw, fish meal, bran, soybean meal, press cakes, fish feed, additives for fish feed, rye and sorghum.

In early August, right after the implementation of the new forex market policies, the government announced 25 categories of products, for the import of which subsidized foreign currency will be allocated to ward off any possible shortage.

Importers of these items, including rice, wheat, poultry, egg, fertilizers, seeds, raw sugar, oil, soybean, heavy tires, publication paper, tea, pharmaceuticals and essential medical equipment, and machinery used for the production of essential goods, could enjoy subsidized foreign currency at the rate of 42,000 rials per dollar.

Importers of other products have been required to provide their foreign currency from the export earnings of non-oil products (petrochemicals, steels and minerals) traded through the so-called Secondary Forex Market at rates closer to the open market rate.

Recently, 75 new items, including pulp and raw materials for paper production, rubber, pencil lead, butter, baby formula, industrial machines for the production of dairy and packaging products were added to the list.

The ban on exports came after the Iranian government banned the import of 1,339 items categorized under “Group Four”—products that are “non-essential and have equivalent products made at home”—in a move to economize on foreign currency.