TEHRAN (MNA) -- Cooking oil production during the first nine months of this year (Iranian year ending on March 20, 2005) decreased by 4.8 percent compared to the last year, noted an official in the Ministry of Industries and Mines.
"The vegetable oils refined during the period was about 921,000 tons however, it is expected that the total oil production will reach the same amount as the preceding year", added Hossein Abuie Mehrizi director of the Bureau of Non- Metal Industries of the Ministry of Industries and Mines.
He also added that despite the decrease in production of the vegetable oil in the beginning of this year, the total amount of the oil produced last year showed a 10.2 percent increase compared to the year before.
He referred to the world increase in the prices of vegetable oil as the main cause for the reduction in production of the commodity in the current year and added given the fact that about 90 percent of our crude oil is imported and that the domestic market is not able to withstand further price hikes, domestic production declined in the beginning months of the year.
Tehran Times Economic Desk
© Tehran Times 2005
