Iran's edible oil industry driven by imports

EghtesadOnline: Iran’s oilseed production currently stands at 430,000 tons per year while annual imports amount to 2.23 million tons, according to secretary of Iran Vegetable Oil Guild Association. “At present, the country has 25 oil extraction factories and 58 edible oil refineries with nominal capacities of 5.4 million tons and 5.8 million tons respectively,” Amir Houshang Birashk was also quoted as saying by IRNA.The official noted that 71% of domestic demand for vegetable oils are imported in the form of unrefined oil, 20% in the form of oilseeds and the remaining 9% are produced locally.“We import soybeans, sunflower seeds, palm and colza. Palm oil accounts for 30% of the country’s vegetable oil consumption. We first imported palm oil from Malaysia in the fiscal 2004-5 with the aim of reducing the amount of trans fat consumption that made up 27% of our vegetable oil products. At present, with the gradual increase in palm oil imports and other measures, the figure has dropped ...