“Annual production stands at 960,000 tons and per capita consumption of the product is 10 kilograms. Consumption amounts to about 800,000 tons a year,” Nasser Nabipour was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.

According to Financial Tribune, exports are slowly resuming following the containment of a bird flu outbreak in the country.

Secretary-General of Iran’s Union of Producers of Egg-Laying Hen Farzad Talakesh said late June that about 1,500 tons of eggs had been exported to Afghanistan since 2 April.

“Iraq too lifted the ban on egg imports from Iran 10 days ago, but the high price of Iranian eggs compared with those of competitors is an impediment to growth in exports,” he said.

Mr Talakesh noted that an egg shipment weighing around 20 tons was exported to Qatar earlier in June.

Iraq and Afghanistan banned the imports of Iranian eggs and chicken early December after an outbreak of H5N8 bird flu virus in Iranian farms.

H5N8 was first detected in Iran in late November 2016.

Mr Talakesh believes Iran’s egg exports cannot exceed 50,000 tons in the current Iranian year (started 21 March), as the country has lost a huge number of chickens due to the outbreak and its export markets.

Iran exported 40,000 tons of eggs last year, some 55,000 tons fewer than the previous year.