Fars News Agency

Morteza Rezayee, a senior official from Iran’s agriculture ministry, said on Tuesday that chicken breeding had increased by 20 percent between March and July this year compared to the similar period in 2018.

He said production of layers and broilers reached around 478 million in the summer, saying breeding numbers could top 125 million in late September, a significant surge compared to figures recorded last year.

The official said, however, that increased production came as Iran had still 30 percent of idle capacity in the poultry industry.

He said breeders could increase their output if they were given guarantees about the future situation in the domestic market.

Rezayee said increased production and overcapacity meant Iran had no need to import chickens from abroad.

A heavy consumer of chickens and eggs, Iran is one of the biggest producers of the poultry items in the world.

The industry is heavily regulated, however, as many farmers rely on cheap diesel to run hatcheries and the government has a close watch on the sector as it plays a huge role in food security in the country.

Iranian government has turned its direction after the US imposed unilateral sanctions against the country’ oil and gas industry with putting its weight behind developments in non-oil economy.

Last week, it was announced that Iran will undertake new measures to strengthen its non-oil exports with a new bill to be tabled at the Iranian Parliament.

Iranian officials started planning for policies to counter the US possible sanctions a year before Donald Trump entered into office in early 2017. The policies are now proving effective as economic indexes are indicating inefficacy of the US pressures.

Earlier in July, Iranian Industry Minister Reza Rahmani said that despite US efforts to cripple Tehran’s economy, year-on-year comparison shows that the country’s domestic production has increased in the first quarter of the local calendar year (March 21-June 21).

“US sanctions were imposed to hamper production in Iran, however, we are proud to announce that after 14 months of sanctions the area has grown one percent in the first three months of the present Iranian year (started on March 21) in comparison with the corresponding period in last year," Rahmani said in Iran’s Northeastern province of North Khorasan.

"We did not let production decrease and that is a victory despite the difficulties we had under sanctions," he added.

The minister underlined that the government seeks to increase exports under the current conditions and called for providing the ground for investors.