The rice harvested last year remains in storage.
The increase in the price of domestic rice in Iran has significantly reduced the purchase and consumption of this food item. Esfandiar Ghasemzadeh, a member of the Rice Association of Iran, without providing precise statistics on domestic rice consumption, stated that according to estimates, people have purchased much less in total on the eve of Nowruz and Ramadan 1402 compared to every other Nowruz. According to Ghasemzadeh, 50% of the rice produced last year is still in storage and has been carried over to the new year. Without explaining the rise in domestic rice prices, he attributed the stockpiling of domestic rice to increased imports and called on the government to reduce exports to prevent the adverse consequences of rice accumulation.