Iran Likely to Produce 22.5 MMT of Rice in 2017.

Iran is likely to produce 22.5 MMT of rice in 2017 compared to 21 MMT in 2016. For meeting its additional requirements of Basmati rice Iran depends on imports. The increase in production over the years is continuously reducing its dependency on imports. Iran imported 14.40 LMT in 2013-14, 9.66 LMT in 2014-15, 6.95 LMT in 2015-16 and 5.50 LMT during the first ten months of 2016-17 (April 2016 to January 2017) from India. It is estimated that in fiscal year 2016-17 Iran is likely to import 6.50 LMT of basmati rice from India. Therefore, Iran demand of basmati rice is likely to fall in coming year because increase in production.