Iran becomes Asia’s largest net dairy exporter: report

The reports published on Saturday said that the FAO had put Iran’s dairy exports last year at 1.583 million metric tons (mt) while estimating that the country had imported only 86,000 mt of such products over the same period.

The figures, cited from FAO’s Food Outlook, a biannual report on global food markets, showed that Iran’s dairy exports accounted for 17% of the total milk and dairy exports by Asian countries in 2022.

Dairy exports from Iran accounted for 13% of the country’s total milk and dairy production last year which reached 7.840 million mt, showed FAO figures which indicated that the output may drop slightly in 2023 to 7.820 million mt.

The official IRNA news agency, which covered more items from FAO’s recent Food Outlook, said that Iran was the 13th largest rice producer and the 11th largest meat producer in Asia in 2022.

It also said that Iran was the world’s 13th largest wheat supplier in 2022 with a total output of nearly 13 million mt.

Iran has introduced extensive measures to ensure food security in the country since 2018 when its oil exports came under American sanctions.

The country has encouraged increased production and exports of agrifood as part of its plans to reduce reliance on oil exports and to create jobs for its population.