Iran starts importing potato amid soaring prices caused by exports
The Iranian ministry of agriculture (MAJ) has authorized limited imports of potato into the country, a first in decades, amid soaring prices of the crop that authorities blame on scheduled exports.
Akbar Fathi, a deputy Iranian agriculture minister, said on Wednesday that domestic companies will be able to import up to 50,000 metric tons (mt) of potato as of January 29 to supply it to the market at a price of less than 280,000 rials ($0.33) per kilogram.
Iran’s National Association of Agricultural Products also said that companies had started placing orders for potato imports from Pakistan and Turkey.
Prices of potato, a staple of Iranian households, reached 700,000 rials ($1) per kilogram in the market in northern Tehran on Wednesday.
The MAJ says it is legally unable to stop scheduled exports of potato from Iran, saying such a decision would harm exporters and cause them to lose their share of the market in countries like Iraq.
The ministry has also announced that the domestic supply of potato has nearly halved this year compared to last year to reach 1 million mt, further affecting the prices.
However, agriculture minister Gholamreza Nouri said in the parliament on Wednesday that exports were to blame for the soaring prices of potato, adding that the MAJ would seek to handle the shortage with supplies from southern Iran, where the crop is being harvested.
Hoarding has also been a major issue, with a report published on Wednesday by the IRIB News saying that authorities in the western city of Hamedan, a main hub of potato farming in Iran, had discovered a storage house with some 18,500 mt of unregistered potato haul.
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