Sweet-toothed Iran should be self sufficient in sugar in three years, Agriculture Minister Mohammad Reza Eskandari said on Tuesday.
"We can be self sufficient in sugar in three years as the domestic capacity is there," he told a news conference, adding that tackling wastage and mismanagement would be key to satisfying domestic demand.
"If we solve these problems in production and processing we will definitely reach self-sufficiency."
Iran is a major sugar importer and most industry experts reckon it will have to import almost 500,000 tonnes in the year to March 2006.
Early estimates predicted imports at 352,000 tonnes but cold weather slashed the cane crop in the south-western province of Khuzestan, meaning that more than 100,000 tonnes extra would have to be bought in.
Iran says it produced 1.4 million tonnes of sugar in the year to March 2005, while sugar consumption stood at 1.8 million tonnes.
Iran's commerce ministry had vowed to end sugar imports to support domestic producers in the year to March 2006 but ex-Commerce Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari told Reuters in July that Iran would still buy it if needed.
Iranians have one of the world's highest per capita levels of sugar consumption, estimated at between 27 to 30 kilograms a year.