Why did the price of meat double in Iran?
The shortage and high price of meat have caused citizens to form long lines in the country's markets to buy meat at the government price. The government has been unable to stop the increase in meat prices, and the price of mutton in Iran has reached 110,000 Tomans.
Ali Asghar Maleki, head of the Mutton Union, told ILNA news agency on Tuesday, January 29, that the price of meat has reached 110,000 tomans and that imports of live livestock from Romania will begin soon.
According to the head of the Mutton Union, "a mutton shoulder without a tail is priced at 105,000 tomans," and the meat that retailers buy is around 90,000 tomans, which comes to the same amount with a 10 percent profit.
Meat at 110,000 tomans per kilo was not the price government officials had expected. According to Maleki, the government is planning to import 50,000 live sheep from Romania daily to prevent the price of meat from rising.
The head of the Mutton Union emphasized that with the arrival of sheep from Romania, meat worth 40,000 tomans will be available on the market, but the import of live sheep from Romania has not yet been implemented, and with the increase in meat prices, the lines for meat and poultry in Iranian markets will also become longer.
But what could be the cause of the shortage or high price of meat, and which institution is responsible for it? Officials and economic experts have cited several factors for the doubling of meat prices.
Hossein Ali Haji Deligani, a representative of the people of Shahinshahr, mentioned meat smuggling in his speech during the parliament session on Tuesday, January 29, and criticized the government's performance, saying, "The Ministry of Agricultural Jihad's performance in dealing with the price of meat is wrong, and the smuggling of breeding livestock must be stopped."
The MP stressed that people are unhappy with the government's handling of meat prices. He also said that the government "has not taken any action to prevent livestock smuggling abroad, especially breeding livestock," and has not taken any steps to break the monopoly on animal feed imports.
“The lack of a unified command caused the price of meat to rise”
Yahya Al-Eshaq, a member of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, believes that until a "single command" is formed to manage the basic goods market, we cannot expect what has happened over the past months to stop and prices to approach their real figures.
This official from the Tehran Chamber of Commerce emphasized: "Just to provide the meat needed by the society, the government has injected about one billion dollars of official currency since the beginning of this year, but in a situation where the price of this product should have been set at 40,000 Tomans, according to forecasts, today prices of 100,000 Tomans are being observed in the market."
Al-Ishaq noted that the main factor in the disruption of market conditions is the lack of a unified command. He criticized that the responsible ministries are abdicating responsibility and blaming the problem on another sector, which has resulted in what is now being seen in the meat market.
Source: DW
