NOURNEWS- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) says Iran’s grain storage rose by nearly 6% last year, despite pressures on the global grain supplies because of the war in Ukraine and in spite of US bans.
Excerpts of FAO’s latest global food outlook report published in local Iranian news agencies on Saturday showed that Iran’s grain storage capacity had reached 12.5 million metric tons last year, up by 5.93% from 2021.
It said Iran was responsible for 1.5% of the total grain supply in the world in 2022, adding that the country had the world's eighth-largest grain supplies last year.
That comes as grain storage in Egypt, a country with a population larger than Iran, was around 4.3 million metric last year, according to the findings of the report.
Iran’s total grain output in 2022 reached 20.6 million metric of which some 13 million metric was wheat, said FAO as it expected that Iran’s wheat production would increase to 13.5 million metric this year.
The UN food agency expected that Iran’s rice output would drop by half a million metric to 3 million metric in 2023 while its supply of other grains would remain flat at 4.1 million metric.
The figures come as Iran is still under a harsh regime of American sanctions that hamper its access to normal trade of grains in the international markets.
It also comes despite the fact that the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has negatively impacted the global supply of grains and left many countries struggling with shortages.
NOURNEWS