Morteza Rezaei, deputy agriculture minister for livestock affairs, says red meat production is projected to rise 4-5% by the end of the current fiscal year (March 2020), which is a step closer to self-sufficiency, Fars News Agency reported.
Iran’s red meat output stands at around 850,000 tons per year, while the country’s annual imports revolve around 120,000-150,000 tons.
There are close to 1.5 million livestock farmers in the country, according to Financial Tribune.
The top 10 red meat producing provinces in Iran are Khorasan Razavi, Fars, East Azarbaijan, Mazandaran, West Azarbaijan, Isfahan, Khuzestan, Tehran, Ardabil and Hamedan.
Imports are made from CIS countries as well as from Brazil and Australia.
Hassan Rokni, former deputy agriculture minister, told Financial Tribune in an interview that Iran's red meat market is worth 248.793 trillion rials ($1.94 billion).
According to Karamali Qandali, the head of Nomadic Affairs Organization, Iranian nomads supply 25% of the country's demand for red meat.
Iran’s per capita red meat consumption stood at 11.47 kilograms per person in the fiscal 2016-17, reaching a total of 917,000 tons. This is while the country’s per capita red meat production is less than 10.5 kilograms. Notably, the global per capita consumption of meat (minus pork) is 11.5 kilograms per annum, similar to Iran’s.
Iranians tend to consume more chicken than red meat and the per capita chicken meat consumption in the country is near 26 kilograms. This is while the global average is at 15 kilograms.