Food prices in Iran surged more than 70% in the past Iranian calendar year ending March 20, a member of the country’s Food Committee at the Chamber of Guilds said, driven by soaring costs for packaging and transport.
“Packaging costs rose in some cases by 200%, and freight charges climbed 55%,” said Ahmadreza Bakhshi.
“When you add the removal of subsidized foreign exchange, overlapping import platforms, and VAT enforcement, it's clear why food production has become dramatically more expensive,” he added.
Iran’s economic crisis has worsened across all sectors. The rial has hit a historic low, with US dollar being exchanged at 1,050,000 rials. Inflation continues to climb, making everyday goods unaffordable amid misgovernance and Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy to intensify sanctions.
Bakhshi pointed to the currency's near-daily loss of value. “Every day, our currency loses value,” he said. “These factors made the cost of production higher in the second half of the year than the first.”
The timing made matters worse. With Nowruz and Ramadan coinciding at the end of the year, demand for food items spiked well beyond levels seen in the same period the previous year, Bakhshi said.
Over the past five years, tens of millions of Iranians have seen their living standards erode as wages fail to keep pace with soaring inflation. Today, the average worker earns roughly $120 per month, while official estimates suggest that a minimum of $500 is needed for the basic survival of a family of three.
