Ali-Ehsan Zafari, chairman of the Dairy Products Union, announced on Tuesday, September 17, a 25% increase in the price of dairy products due to a 20% rise in the price of raw milk.
However, Zafari warned that the higher prices for dairy products would not benefit producers but would instead lead to reduced consumption, which in turn would lower production and profitability.
Zafari added that if these price increases continue, public dairy consumption will decline.
He pointed out that the solution to preventing this price increase is “government subsidies,” but noted that “the related decree has not yet been officially issued by the government.”
Referring to the products that will see the biggest price hikes, Zafari added that “products like cheese will experience the largest price increases.”
He emphasized that “the government must first find a way to stop the rising prices of dairy products,” and added that under these circumstances, subsidies to dairy producers are the only solution.
In recent days and weeks, the price of bread has increased by up to 66% in some provinces of Iran. In this regard, the rise in bread prices in Tehran has led to increased protests.
In this context, labor activist Faramarz Tofighi told the state-run ILNA news agency on September 9: “The occasional price hikes of key factors affecting household living expenses, whether denied or confirmed by officials, have now become routine,” and added, “We usually see these price surges in the second half of each year.”
He mentioned that “in the food sector, we have three strategic goods: oil, sugar, and bread,” and added, “They handle bread, this strategic commodity, so carelessly as if they don’t understand the impact of its rising price on people’s tables.”
Faramarz Tofighi added: “Don’t they realize that other items in people’s food basket have become extremely expensive, forcing the lower classes to rely on bread? The rise in bread prices is another blow to their livelihood.”
Meanwhile, in line with what Iranian regime president Masoud Pezeshkian, along with his economic advisors and some of his ministers, have described as “economic surgery” or giving the people a “bitter medicine,” there is a possibility of an increase in energy prices, especially gasoline.
Some economic experts also predict that water and electricity prices are set to rise, although the Ministry of Energy has not yet officially confirmed this. However, indirect increases have already been applied through utility bills.
