Iran’s dairy exports see surprise boost despite economic challenges
Iranian exports of milk, butter, and other dairy products have surged by nearly 40%, a surprising boom in a nation facing one of its most difficult periods in decades.
The competitive nature of the market globally and locally has pushed Iranian dairy producers to meet global standards and “even surpass them,” said Ali Rezaei, the owner of a large husbandry.
Iraq remains the top importer of Iran’s dairy products, while Pakistan, Afghanistan, and now Russia trail behind as key markets.
Iran’s Shargh daily in April quoted the national customs as reporting that Iranian-made dairy products are being exported to 46 countries in trading worth nearly $1 billion.
Demand from Russia in recent years has been a driver of growth in the Iranian dairy market, Rezaei said. “Russia used to buy from the European Union and the US. But once those sanctions hit, Russia started looking for high-quality milk on the global market. That’s when they turned to Iran.”
Rezaei manages a large husbandry, some 100 kilometers northwest of Tehran, with more than 20,000 livestock.
He says he has managed to maximize production and optimize output using high-quality feed, medical care for the livestock, and high-quality artificial insemination.
Surprisingly, the boost in the quality of Iranian dairy products can partly be attributed to genetics from the US as Iran has been importing cow semen from the US for decades.
A report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in June predicted that while global dairy trade was predicted to decline slightly overall in 2025, Iran was expected to be one of the countries with increased dairy shipments.
The report anticipated lower dairy exports from the European Union, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, while it predicted increased shipments from Iran, New Zealand, and Uruguay.
Tasnim news agency reported in June that Iran had produced 8.85 million metric tons of dairy products last year.
But dairy consumption at home remains low, and critics say exports must be limited and dairy products must become more affordable domestically, since producers use government-subsidized cow feed.
The article first appeared on The
Associated Press.