Continued Excessive Imports, Rising Prices, and Brokers' Reluctance; Iranian Rice Has Been Removed from Iranian Tables

An Iranian newspaper reported that with the continued excessive import of foreign rice and the brokers' reluctance to purchase from farmers, high-quality Iranian rice has been replaced by low-quality Thai and Pakistani rice. In an interview with a member of the agricultural sector, the newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad pointed out the stagnation in the Iranian rice market, stating: 'The brokers' reluctance to buy rice from farmers in the fields on one hand and citizens' preference for purchasing cheaper Thai or Pakistani rice on the other hand have led to a decrease in purchases of this product from farmers and created stagnation in its market.' Last December, a rice sellers' guild official criticized the government for issuing excessive import licenses, stating that this has led to stagnation in the domestic rice market. Ali Taheri Otaghsara, the head of the rice sellers' union in Babol, criticized the import policies of the thirteenth government, saying that while there is an annual need for 900,000 tons of imports to meet the total consumption of Iran, around 2 million tons of rice were imported last year. While the price of first-grade Iranian rice had reached 170,000 tomans per kilogram last year, the decrease in people's economic power and brokers' refusal to buy farmers' rice has reduced the price of that same rice to over 50,000 tomans per kilogram this year. Nevertheless, despite the more than double price difference between Iranian rice and imported rice, the buying and selling of this agricultural product has still declined, and the tables of Iranians have been emptied of the fragrant and tasty Iranian rice. The increase in the misery index in 25 provinces of Iran, the government's prediction of worsening livelihoods for the people; the Minister of Labor announced the continuation of livelihood assistance, the import of 2 million tons of rice in one year; a guild official stated: this leads to market stagnation, an economist; the classification is a 'new shop' for the Ministry of Welfare, the minimum New Year bonus for workers is 10.6 million tomans; the smell of the New Year bonus is the smell of poverty.