January 10, 2013

Iran is planning to improve its meat production capacity, through major investments over three years.

Head of the Central Association of Animal Breeders, Cyrus Rusta, reported that the special working group for meat market normalisation had submitted a draft programme for meat industry development to the Agriculture Islamic Council of the Marlis (Parliament).

According to the document, Iran should reach self-sufficiency in all types of meat production by 2016. The country produced a total of 970,000 tonnes of meat in 2012, equal to around 90% of the total demand of Iranian citizens, with the remaining 10% provided by imports.

Rusta said the government was planning to allocate US$735 million for implementation of the programme, with the money used to provide animal facilities with the necessary level of profitability and liquidity.

Taking into account growing demand in Iran, the project aims to increase the volume of meat production in the country by approximately 200,000 tonnes over the next few years.

Additionally, the investment will create the conditions for further development of Iran's meat industry after 2016, so the country could potentially become an active meat exporter in the future.