Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati said on Sunday Iran’s strategic wheat reserves currently stand at 6 million tons, which means the market is set to remain balanced and prices will be stabilized. Governments store grains for the purpose of balancing supply and demand and minimizing the risk of shortages, Mehr News Agency reported. The Iranian government bought 8.08 million tons of wheat from local farmers in the last crop year, showing a 1-million-ton surge compared with the previous year. The figure marks a record high in the past 10 years. According to Deputy Agriculture Minister Ali Qanbari, the figure is expected to rise 24% this year and reach 10 million tons. The government is planning to gain wheat self-sufficiency by improving yields. Iran was ranked 11th biggest producer of wheat worldwide in 2015 for the third consecutive year, according to a recent report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
