According to data from the Iran Statistics Center, urban households in Tehran spent over 70% of their income on purchasing non-food items and services in 2023. As per the Echo Iran website, households in Tehran averaged a yearly expenditure of 196,189,000 tomans. Of this amount, 77.9% was allocated to non-food items, while 22.1% was spent on food items.
This is a notable increase from the 21.1% share of food expenses in household budgets in 2022. Consequently, the portion of food costs within the total annual expenses of urban households in Tehran has risen, indicating an inflationary trend in food items in 2023.
This report reveals that, on average, each household in Tehran spent 43,445,000 tomans on food products in 2023. Approximately 19.8% of this figure, roughly 8,600,000 tomans, was dedicated to purchasing meat, making it the largest contributor to food expenses among urban households in Tehran.
Fruits and vegetables accounted for 19.4% of Tehrani households’ shopping baskets in 2023. Meanwhile, the category including flour, noodles, cereals, bread, and related products ranked third in the food basket, representing 17% of expenditures.
Expenses related to housing, healthcare, appliances, and furniture fall under the non-food item category. The total expenditure on non-food items for an urban household in Tehran in 2022 amounted to 152,744,000 tomans. Housing expenses comprised 65.2% of this total, approximately 99,600,000 tomans. Healthcare followed as the second-largest expense category at 9.9%.
Indicators suggest that the inflation rate in 2024 will surpass that of both 2023 and 2022. Price increases leading up to the end of 2023 sparked protests on social networks, with citizens expressing particular concern over skyrocketing electricity bills.
Bartarinha News reported that, per government orders, Tawanir electricity company implemented a price hike in electricity tariffs starting from the beginning of 2024, reflecting in higher bills for consumers in February.
The fruits and vegetables market experienced volatility throughout 2023, prompting many farmers and distributors to prefer selling their products in neighboring countries to maximize profits. Consequently, middlemen exploited the situation, inflating prices as products fluctuated in the market.
Jalal Mahmudzadeh, a member of the Parliament’s Agriculture Commission, criticized the government for this state of affairs. He highlighted the minimal profits earned by farmers and the substantial price differences between what farmers receive and what middlemen charge consumers.
Mahmudzadeh advocated for government intervention to streamline the fruit distribution system and eliminate middlemen, which he believes could potentially halve prices with an effective distribution plan.
