Ali Ehsan Zafari, head of the Dairy Products Union, announced a 70% increase in the price of raw milk compared to June and stated that this level of increase is equivalent to fifty years of past price jumps.
Speaking to the state-run ILNA news agency on Monday, November 17, Zafari said that dairy prices change daily due to rising raw milk prices.
According to him, “The price of raw milk had reached 230,000 rials per kilogram over sixty years, but within five months it increased to 390,000 rials per kilogram. This means it has risen by nearly 60%, which is equal to fifty years of price increases.”
It is worth noting that the union official’s claims do not seem accurate, as the five-month increase is not 60% but 70%. Therefore, assuming a consistent upward trend in raw milk prices over the past sixty years, this five-month rise is roughly equivalent to forty-two years of price growth.
Sharp Rise in Food Prices in Iran; Meat and Rice Lead the Surge
Zafari added in his ILNA interview that the prices of all dairy products have changed because raw milk is the base input for all of them, and this trend will continue.
The head of the Dairy Products Union warned that as dairy prices rise, consumer demand has fallen, which will eventually lead to the shutdown of factories one after another.
In May 2025, milk prices had also risen by 27.7%, increasing from 180,000 rials to 230,000 rials per kilogram.
Media outlets report that the root of this crisis lies in drought-driven pressure on livestock farmers and sharply rising production costs in the livestock and poultry sectors.
A predicted 49% increase in dairy prices
The state-run Hamshahri Online newspaper reported on November 16 that over the past two weeks, widely consumed dairy products have been distributed at new prices daily, with an overall upward trend across the market.
Dairy producers, responding to criticism, claim that to compensate for rising input costs, they must raise product prices by an average of 0.7% for every one-percent increase in raw milk prices.
However, price increases for dairy products in the market have consistently exceeded this ratio.
With raw milk prices rising 70%, the average price of dairy products is expected to rise by about 49%.
Hamshahri reported that over the past week, various dairy companies increased the price of low-fat and full-fat bottled milk by more than 50% on average.
Dairy products in June had also faced a 42% price increase due to the rise in raw milk prices.
In recent years, staple household food items have been among the products experiencing the highest price surges.
Iran’s Statistical Center reported annual inflation for September at 37.5%, point-to-point inflation at 45.3%, and month-to-month inflation at 3.8%.
Experts believe these figures are usually more favorable than real market conditions due to political bias in the calculations.
