TEHRAN- The price of red meat, including veal, will fall in the country in the current Iranian calendar week (started on Saturday), according to the head of Iran’s Livestock Provision Council.

The price of red meat, especially veal, has been increasing in recent weeks because of the rising price of the livestock feed such as corn, barley, and soy cake, but the price will be balanced soon, Mansour Pourian told IRNA on Saturday.

Earlier this month, the official called on the government to purchase the red meat at guaranteed prices to support the producers.

Pourian also recommended the exports of livestock to support the producers and also bring foreign revenue for the country.

Saying that the purchase of red meat at guaranteed prices started in the country in the middle of the fourth Iranian calendar month of Tir (early July), Pourian announced that 4,000 tons of red meat have been purchased in this way by the State Livestock Affairs Logistics Company since then.

The purchase of red meat at guaranteed prices is already done in 15 provinces, including Khorasan Razavi, North Khorasan, Gilan, Alborz, Yazd, Isfahan, Fars, Sistan-Baluchestan, Khuzestan, East Azarbaijan, and Semnan, he said, adding that it will be then conducted in the other provinces as well.

Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) has announced that production of red meat in Iran stood at 40,000 tons in the sixth month of the current Iranian calendar year (August 22-September 21), showing 57 percent growth compared to the same month in the past year.

The SCI’s report said that beef and veal had the lion’s share in the country’s red meat output during the sixth month with 23,600 tons, followed by lamb and mutton with 12,900 tons, goat meat with 2,800 tons, and red meat from other livestock with 734 tons. 

Iran’s deputy agriculture minister, Morteza Rezaei, has recently said that the total production of red and chicken meat is expected to reach 3.5 million tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2021).

He said red meat production will reach 880,000 tons, while chicken meat output is expected to reach 2.7 million tons.

MA/MA