“So far this year, more than 140,000 tons of colza have been produced. We are an importer of colza and, therefore, plans are underway to increase land under the oilseed’s cultivation to achieve self-sufficiency,” Abdolmehdi Bakhshandeh was also quoted as saying by IRNA on June 24.
His remarks came before CEO of the Government Trading Corporation of Iran Yazdan Seif told Mehr News Agency on June 25 that around 125,000 tons of colza were purchased until that date.
This year, according to Abbas Keshavarz, another deputy agriculture minister, more than 125,000 hectares of farmland have gone under colza cultivation, Financial Tribune reported.
“We plan to increase the figure to between 250,000 and 300,000 hectares next year,” he said.
About 93% of all the raw vegetable oil in the domestic market are imported, as domestic demand stands at 1.5 million tons per annum.
The Ministry of Agriculture plans to achieve 70% self-sufficiency in oilseed production in the next 10 years.
Per capita vegetable oil consumption in Iran is about 18-19 kilograms a year while the global average is 12 kilograms.
Colza is one of the main oilseeds cultivated in Iran. Last year’s production stood at around 69,000 tons.