Vegetable Oils, Food Consumption
FAO publishes this commodity's food-balance elements in two domains with different methodologies (historic 1961-2013 vs current 2010-2023); they disagree materially where they overlap, so both are kept as separate labelled series rather than spliced.
Event_Log
011980Wartime rationing coupon system introducedCorrelationExpected causation
Amid the Iraqi invasion, a trade squeeze and food shortages, the government begins distributing ration coupons for sugar, rice, meat, cooking oil and other staples through neighborhood cooperatives; the coupon ('koopon') system remains in force through the 1980s and is phased out only toward the end of the Ahmadinejad era.
Why this link: Cooking oil was among the core staples rationed by coupon throughout the 1980s.
Caveat: Iran's heavy reliance on imported vegetable oil means global supply and shipping disruptions also independently affected this series.
Lag: Immediate, decade-longSource: IMF Working Paper -- Iran: The Chronicles of the Subsidy Reform
Related_Laws
Laws related to this measure. Correlation = how closely this law tracks this measure's story. Expected causation = how strongly we would expect it to have moved the line. Neither is a claim of proof.
1979CorrelationExpected causationAct on the Exemption of Vegetable Oil from Customs Duty, with Subsequent Amendments
Passed in 1979, this law exempts imports of vegetable oil, used as a raw material for edible oil production, from customs duty.
Why this link: By lowering the import cost of vegetable oil, a household staple, the exemption directly supports consumption levels.
Caveat: Domestic production, subsidised distribution and later rationing policies also shape consumption independently of this exemption.
Lag: Within 1-2 years of enactment.1980CorrelationExpected causationBill Adding a Note as Note 2 to the Bill Exempting Vegetable Oil from Customs Duty
Passed in 1980 by the Revolutionary Council, this bill extends the existing customs-duty exemption on vegetable oil to soybean oil imported by the state-owned Trade Services Expansion Company.
Why this link: This 1980 amendment expands the customs duty exemption for vegetable oil, its explicit instrument directly lowering the import cost of this staple good, the exact commodity these trade and consumption charts track.
Caveat: Vegetable-oil trade and consumption volumes in this era were also shaped by wartime rationing, exchange-rate controls and state trading-company allocation decisions early in the revolution, so the duty exemption's isolated share cannot be fully separated from these.
1980CorrelationExpected causationLegal Bill Adding a Note to the Legal Bill on Customs Duty Exemption for Vegetable Oil, Approved 11/7/1358 (October 3, 1979)
A legal bill adding a note to an earlier legal bill that exempted vegetable oil from customs duties, approved October 3, 1979.
Why this link: Adds a customs-duty exemption clause specifically for vegetable oil imports, a direct, named channel lowering the landed cost of an imported food staple and thereby its domestic price and trade volume.
Caveat: Vegetable-oil prices and trade in this period were dominated by post-revolution currency controls, rationing and global commodity prices, so the exemption's own contribution cannot be cleanly separated from those larger forces.
2018CorrelationExpected causationAdministrative Justice Court General Board Ruling No. 1022 on the Value Added Tax Exemption for Crude Vegetable Oil
Issued in 2018, this ruling annuls the effective date set by a 2013 tax-agency circular for exempting crude (unrefined) vegetable oil from value added tax, holding that the exemption under Article 12 of the VAT Act had applied since October 2008, not from the circular's later date.
Why this link: This Divan-e Edalat-e Edari ruling enforces the VAT law's exemption for crude (unrefined) vegetable oil supply and imports, correcting the tax administration's implementation date back to 2008; VAT-exempt status directly affects the retail cost passed through on a household staple.
Caveat: This is a narrow administrative-date correction to an existing exemption, not a new policy; vegetable oil consumption is driven mainly by import volumes, world prices and the exchange rate, not by this VAT technicality.
Lag: immediate to a few months once tax-administration circulars are corrected