June 4, 2020

Iran's demand for livestock feed raw materials unmet

Iran's demand for raw materials for livestock feed is not being met due to limited transportation during the COVID-19 lockdown, even as prices have skyrocketed.

According to the managing director of Iran's Livestock Affairs Support Company, Hassan Abbasi Maroufan, more than 1.8 million tonnes of raw materials for livestock feed has been supplied to the country's animal feed producers in 70 days since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported via Tehran Times.

"Of course, the country's demand during this period was 2.2 million tonnes, which wasn't met due to the slowness of the transportation system following the coronavirus outbreak," Maroufan said.  

The outbreak of coronavirus and the closure of trade borders with the neighbors, along with the US's economic sanctions have also resulted in a drastic fall in the country's animal feed imports resulting in the skyrocketing of prices of such commodities in the country.

"It was announced that due to sanctions, money transfers for about 3 million tonnes of corn and soybean meal were not carried out on time and so the supply of those goods were affected. As a result, the price of animal feed went up," Majid Movafeq Ghadirli, the chairman of Iran Feed Industry Association, said earlier in May.

Maroufan also noted that the Central Bank of Iran did not allocate subsidised foreign currency during the first four months, resulting in the price hikes.

Iran imports over 80% of raw materials for feed production, according to the Iran Feed Industry Association.