Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.12 /Trend F.Milad/
Iran needs to import 500,000 tons of rice each year, Mehdi Kabuli, an official with the country's Agricultural Jihad Ministry said on Wednesday.
Iran plans to produce over 2.4 million tons of rice in the current Iranian calendar year, which ends March 19, 2013, the ISNA News Agency quoted Kabuli as saying.
The annual rice consumption in Iran stands around 2.8 million tons so we only need to import less than 500,000 tons of rice this year, he said.
Referring to the fact that Iran is currently importing more than the country's needs, he went on to note that the agriculture ministry plans to store the rice for future and there is no need for farmers to worry.
"The quality and price of the Iranian rice is really reasonable, so the farmers can easily sell their products," he added.
Based on the reports published earlier this month, Iran has imported 775,000 tons of rice, valued at $758 million, in the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 20.
Compared to the same time span previous year, the figures show 12.01 percent increase in term of value, and 2.35 percent decrease in terms of volume.
India, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan were the main exporters of rice to Iran.
Head of Iran's Rice Guild Association said on December 8 that the imported Indian rice may be contaminated with chemicals like arsenic.
There are rumors that the Indian Basmati rice which have been imported recently are contaminated with chemicals and some Indian officials have implicitly confirmed the claim, the Mehr News Agency quoted him as saying.
"The government should conduct the necessary tests as soon as possible," he added.
He went on to note that Iran will soon import rice from Uruguay.
Iran plans to reach self-sufficiency in rice production in the next three years.
According to the Agriculture Jihad ministry's plan, Iran was supposed to reach self-sufficiency in the rice production field by the end of current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2013), but the officials recently announced the plan needs some more 3 years to be completed, the ISNA News Agency reported.
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