11 Billion Dollar Imbalance in Iran's Agricultural Trade

The Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture has reported an 11 billion dollar imbalance in Iran's agricultural trade, stating that 80% of the animal feed used in the country is dependent on imports. Akbar Fathi said on Sunday, November 20, to ILNA news agency that in recent years, due to the increased demand for meat in the country, imports have extended from agricultural products to livestock products as well. Customs statistics show that last year, Iran imported 17.4 billion dollars worth of agricultural products and exported 6.2 billion dollars worth. The majority of Iran's agricultural imports are related to soybeans, corn, barley, and other animal feed. Despite extensive wheat imports, an Iranian agriculture official claimed self-sufficiency. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the agricultural situation in Iran has worsened due to various reasons, including droughts, and the share of employment in the agricultural sector has decreased from 22.7% in 2000 to about 16% in recent years. Additionally, the per capita area of agricultural land in Iran has decreased from 2,500 square meters in 2000 to about 2,000 square meters. The government's allocation of preferential currency for importing agricultural items to control prices has also made it difficult for domestic farmers to compete with imported products; in other words, foreign agricultural products have taken the market away from domestic farmers. Conversely, Iran's agricultural exports mainly consist of raw materials, such as fruits, vegetables, and greens, which have little value and have been repeatedly rejected by foreign markets due to the use of non-standard pesticides in recent years. Akbar Fathi also referred to the issue of raw selling, stating that although exported agricultural products are heavy, they do not bring much value to the country because agricultural exports from Iran are in the form of raw selling. Iran's agricultural exports were just over 6 billion dollars last year, while Turkey had over 35 billion dollars in agricultural exports, with only 10% being fresh fruits and raw vegetables. About 20 years ago, Turkey's agricultural exports were less than 4 billion dollars, reached 16 billion dollars 10 years ago, and peaked at over 35 billion dollars last year.