More than 10.76 million tons of wheat worth 137 trillion rials ($3.87 billion at current market exchange rates) have been purchased from local farmers by the government since the beginning of the harvest season in late March, which indicates a 40% surge compared to the same period last year, according to CEO of Government Trading Corporation of Iran. “Khuzestan in the south with nearly 1.4 million tons, Golestan in the north with 1.35 million tons, Fars in the southwest with 896,000 tons and Kurdestan and Kermanshah in the west with 800,000 tons and 720,000 tons respectively top the list of provinces from where the purchases were made,” IRNA quoted Ali Qanbari as saying. The official added that purchases will continue until late September and it is estimated that this year the record of both wheat production and purchases in Iran’s history will be broken. Every year the government buys wheat at guaranteed prices from local farmers in order to build up its strategic reserves and control prices in the domestic market. In the last fiscl years that ended in March, about 11.5 million tons of the grain was produced, 8.08 million tons of which was bought by the government. This year’s production from 6 million hectares of rain-fed and irrigated land is estimated to exceed 13 million tons.
