InternationalInternational Economics

Rice imports liberalized; Is the price getting cheaper?


According to the economic correspondent of Fars News Agency, rice imports as the officials of the ministry صمت It has been announced that it has been released since November 1, and people are hoping that the price of this basic product will pull back from the huge increases that have taken place in the past year. Will this expectation of the people come true?

Rice is one of the products that has seen a strange increase in price in the past year, and since its per capita consumption is high in the country and is an important part of the country’s food basket, it put a lot of pressure on families, especially the lower middle class. .

Ali Akbarian is a member of the board Director The Rice Association has announced that the per capita consumption of rice in Iran is 36 kilos. Last year, every Iranian was forced to buy domestic quality rice at a price of 44,000 tomans, of course. Statistical Center of Iran He also recently published a report entitled “Average prices of food items in urban areas”, saying that the average price of first-grade rice last year was 55.7%.

But the news yesterday the ministry صمت He said that many hope that the price of rice in the market will decrease in the coming days. Abbas Tabesh Deputy Minister صمت Announced the liberalization of rice import order registration that importers can start importing from November 1st.

He said: “In terms of the need to meet the needs of the country and regulate the rice market, and during the coordination, the registration of rice orders will begin and in this regard, importers can take action.”

Referring to the situation of rice import and clearance in the country’s customs and ports, Tabesh added: “Due to the ban on order registration and rice import in the harvest season, with the aim of supporting domestic rice farmers and producers and considering the order registration and purchase process, transportation and clearance Rice takes more than a month to regulate the market.

It bans the import of foreign rice every year during the harvest season to support domestic producers for four months from July 1, and this year it was banned.

So with the liberalization of imports and people expect it to lead to lower prices, but what are the requirements to reduce the price of rice? Can imports alone lower prices? What plans does the government have for those who can easily disrupt the market?

To answer these questions, we need to know the root cause of the 57% increase in rice prices over the past year and address them, otherwise imports alone will not work, as they have not worked for other crops.

Now let’s look at the key to eating the rising price of rice.

* Reduce rice production

Drought and declining rainfall this year have led to a significant drop in rice production in the country compared to last year.

According to the Ministry of Energy, this year’s rainfall has decreased by 50%, resulting in reduced rice production.

Therefore, reducing production has widened the supply and demand gap and helped raise rice prices.

* 4-month ban on rice imports

A four-month ban on rice imports helped push up prices further amid declining production in the country. Rice importers believe that the minimum length of the ban can be reduced if production is reduced.

But Seyed Javad Sadati Nejad, the Minister of Jihad for Agriculture, has a different opinion. “Import enough or import after November.”

* Increase production costs

Rising production costs last year have helped push up rice prices.

Qassem Ali Hassani, secretary of the Food Bankers’ Union, stated: “This year, labor costs have increased by more than 200 percent, so that the daily wage of workers has increased from 200,000 to 500,000 to 700,000 tomans.” In other words, the daily wage of a worker, which until last year was 200,000 Tomans for the process of planting and harvesting rice, has increased to at least 500,000 Tomans this year.

He said: “Other costs such as fertilizers, pesticides and other inputs have also increased sharply, and due to the sharp increase in ancillary costs of rice production, the price of Iranian rice has also increased sharply.”

* Profiters up to 20,000 Tomans from brokers selling one kilo of rice

Brokerage and intermediation are other effective factors in increasing the price of rice. Before harvesting rice, these people enter into contracts with farmers at low prices and they also accept them for financial needs. They make their product expensive.

A Gilani paddy farmer told a Fars reporter: Rice that is sold in the market at prices above 45,000 Tomans is bought from a farmer under 30,000 Tomans.

* Reduce imports

In an interview with a Fars reporter, Masih Keshavarz said: “The amount of imports has dropped by 65% ​​this year and has led to an increase in prices in the market.” Rice imports have dropped by 99 to 50 percent this year and 65 percent this year.

* Slow release of products left in customs

While the market is waiting for the product to arrive to reduce prices, ‌ a large part of the rice shipment remains at customs, which apparently has no legal prohibition.

13,000 tons of foreign rice were suspended behind customs gates and allowed to be cleared by the ministry صمت And does not have agricultural jihad.

In this regard, Mehrdad Jamal ارونقی In a letter to the Acting Deputy Minister of Internal Trade of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade, the Technical Deputy Minister of Customs requested comment on imported rice shipments whose legal entry date is before the date of the ban.

Therefore, in order to reduce the stable price of rice in the market, all the components of the price increase must be paid attention to and controlled. And intermediation in this sector was strongly prevented, in the next step, more attention should be paid to increasing production and reducing production costs.

My Fars audience by announcing subjects entitled “What is the reason for the daily increase in the price of rice?” And “officials’ neglect of hardworking farmers” called for action.

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