Iranian Dairy Industry

Significant export

The second-largest milk exporter in the Middle Eastern area is Iran. Following the secretary of The Iranian Dairy Industries Union’s claim that the Islamic Republic of Iran is producing close to seven million tons of milk per annum. 450,000 tons of produced milk is exported as dairy products and is valued at $770 million. The main countries that were importing Iranian dairy goods were Iraq, Afghanistan, and Russia. In August 2020, the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced that the country, from March to July 2020, exported 152,574 tons of dairy products valued at $153.742 million. In the mentioned timeline, Iraq was the main destination for Iranian milk-based products.

Output

The production of Iranian cow’s milk, as it was reported by the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI), has risen by 3 percent in the first quarter of 2020 (March 2020- June 2020). This promising increase encouraged the country to boost its annual milk output to 11 million tons.

Production of butter

A promising trend can be noticed in domestic butter production. On September 15th the deputy agricultural minister stated that the country’s dairy manufactures are capable of producing 70,000 tons of butter yearly. Officials expressed hopes that such an upward trend will continue and butter production will increase. This goal can be achieved with the help of Dutch technology. Cooperation between Netherland’s specialists and Iranian sector representatives was discussed back at the beginning of September 2020. Local manufacturers hope to gain knowledge from dutch experts, as technology from the Netherlands is among the most effective worldwide.