The government permitted the import of 3 million tons of wheat in January, 1.6 million tons of which have so far been unloaded in Iranian ports.
Some 400,000 tons have also arrived and are ready for unloading at the ports of Imam Khomeini, Bandar Abbas and Chabahar, according to the director general of the Government Trading Corporation's Commercial Services Department.
“The remaining 1 million tons will be imported by May 20,” Hassan Nejad-Fallah was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Last Iranian year (ended March 19, 2020), due to low guaranteed prices for wheat, farmers refrained from selling their harvest to the government. Around 8 million tons of wheat were purchased and the government decided to import 3 million tons of the grain to fill its strategic reserves.
According to CEO of the National Foundation of Elite Farmers Ali Khan-Mohammadi, domestic demand for this staple grain in Iran currently amounts to around 12 million tons per year.
“This year, wheat was cultivated across 6.2 million hectares and we expect the harvest to yield 13 million tons, which is enough to meet the entire local demand. With proper planning and timely action, the government can even export 1-2 million tons of wheat this year,” the Young Journalists Club quoted him as saying.
Ataollah Hashemi, the head of National Wheat Farmers Foundation, estimates this year’s wheat production at 14 million tons.
Every year, the government buys strategic crops, including wheat as well as sugarbeet, tea, barley, cotton boll and oilseeds, from local farmers at guaranteed prices to control prices in the domestic market and fill its strategic reserves.
Affiliated to Agriculture Ministry, GTC is the official government body in charge of making guaranteed purchases.
Wheat harvest has begun in southern Iran where the weather is warm and dry. A ceremony was held in Bushehr Province’s Dayyer County on Saturday to celebrate what is expected to be a bountiful yield this year.
So far, 142,300 tons of wheat worth close to 3.57 trillion rials ($22.03 million) have been purchased from farmers in 10 provinces, Fars News Agency reported.
Khuzestan with 84,628 tons, Bushehr with 36,033 tons and Kerman with 8,668 tons topped the list of provinces from where the purchases were made.
Esmaeil Esfandiarpour, the official in charge of “Wheat Project”—the government program to purchase the crop from farmers at a guaranteed price, says yields are going to be high this year due to high levels of precipitation.
“Harvest will last for four and a half months. It begins here in the south and later in provinces with milder and colder weather in the center and northern regions of the country.”
The official added that the government aims to purchase around 10.5 million tons of the grain from domestic farmers.
CEO of GTC Yazdan Seif said 280 quadrillion rials ($1.75 billion) are required to purchase this volume of wheat this year (started March 20).
“Around $750 million of this amount will come through revenues earned from targeted subsidies, $687.5 million will be borrowed from the Central Bank of Iran and the banking system, and the rest will be provided by GTC,” Seif was quoted as saying by ILNA.
After much negotiation, the government reformed the prices of guaranteed wheat purchases, based on which each kilo of common and durum wheat will be purchased at guaranteed prices of 25,000 rials (around $0.15) and 26,000 rials ($0.16) respectively, showing a 40% increase compared with last year.
