Meat production in Iran increased by 43%

Iran's Statistical Center (SCI) announced that Iran's red MEAT production stood at 42,000 tons in the eleventh month of the current Iranian calendar year (January 20 - February 18), up 43% from the same month last year. The SCI report says that beef and veal accounted for the lion's share of the country's red meat production during the eleventh month at 24,100 tons, followed by mutton and lamb at 14,500 tons, goat meat at 2,500 tons and red meat from other livestock - 918 tons.

The HEAD of Iran's Livestock Provision Council called on the government to buy red meat at guaranteed prices to support producers. Mansour Pourian also recommended the EXPORT of livestock to support producers and bring foreign exchange income to the country, Tehrannews neswpaper reported.

While stating that the purchase of red meat at guaranteed prices began in the country in the middle of the fourth Iranian calendar month of Tyr (beginning of July 2020), Pourian announced that 4,000 tons of red meat were purchased in this way by the State Department of Animal Husbandry.  

Procurement of red meat at guaranteed prices is already underway in 15 provinces, including Khorasan Razavi, North Khorasan, Gilan, Alborz, Yazd, Isfahan, Fars, Sistan-Baluchistan, Khuzestan, East Azerbaijan and Semnan, he said, adding that it would then carried out in other provinces.

Iranian Deputy Minister of Agriculture Morteza Rezaee said that by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), the total production of red and chicken meat is expected to reach 3.5 million tons. According to him, the production of red meat will reach 880,000 tons, while the production of chicken meat is expected to reach 2.7 million tons.

Pointing to the per capita consumption of protein products in the country, Rezai said: “Currently, the per capita consumption of red meat is 12.5 kg, chicken meat 31.25 kg, raw MILK 124 kg, eggs 11.72 kg and honey 1 .35 kg.

Iran is one of the leading consumers of red meat in the West Asian region, with lamb being the most sought after. However, consumption per person is about a third of what is typically seen in countries such as the US and Australia, largely due to the prohibition of pork in Islamic law.