Iran: Feed industry not yet hit by covid-19

Last month before the coronavirus pandemic, All About Feed talked with Dr Majid Movafegh Ghadirly, about the major plans of Iran on modernising its domestic feed industry. Read interview here. Recently, All About Feed spoke to Dr Majid Movafegh Ghadirly again and asked how covid-19 is impacting the Iran feed industry.

…coronavirus has not had a negative impact on consumption so far…”

Dr Majid Movafegh Ghadirly responded: “Because of Iran’s New Year holidays, the government is strictly controlling domestic transportation and did not allow the holidays to disrupt it. Therefore, the transportation of feed and feedstuffs continues as usual. At this time of the year, consumption of meat and protein products have increased by 15% compared to the same period last year. This is because most people are staying at home for quarantine, and in order to strengthen the immune system they need to consume more protein products. This prompted the increase in meat production, which is needed to meet the demand of the market.”

“So, coronavirus has not had a negative impact on consumption so far. And in the longterm, we have to wait and see what impact it will have on the feed industry and livestock production and protein products. It is still unclear. Giving that more than 80- 90% of feedstuff are imported into Iran, naturally, in the shortterm it will not have much impact, but taking into account the spread of the virus globally, it will certainly have a negative impact on Iran’s animal feed industry. For example, we still do not know whether the ships will be delayed or cancellated or not.”

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“To date, it has had no effect, because the warehouses in Iran have large stocks, while we have purchased large volumes of feedstuff that are either already in Iranian ports or on their way to Iran. We still aren’t certain of what’s going on in the world. So, we have to wait and plan our response accordingly.”

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