The government has purchased more than 173,000 tons of colza from local farmers so far this crop year, registering a 260% increase compared with the corresponding period of last year, the head of the Government Trading Corporation of Iran said on Saturday.
GTC is a government-owned company specializing in the purchase, import and distribution of essential foodstuff.
According to Yazdan Seif, Golestasn with over 50,000 tons, Mazandaran with 19,500 tons, Khuzestan with 19,000 tons and Fars and Ardabil with 15,000 and 13,400 tons respectively top the list of provinces where the purchases were made, ILNA reported.
The government has a guaranteed purchase system in place for many crops, including colza, to build up its strategic reserves and control prices in the domestic market.
More than 125,000 hectares of farmland have gone under colza cultivation this year. About 540 tons of safflower and 465 tons of sunflower seeds have been purchased by the government.
The overall oilseed purchases by the government are valued at 4.63 trillion rials (over $122.4 million).
About 93% of all the raw vegetable oil in the domestic market are imported, as domestic demand stands at 1.5 million tons per annum.
The Ministry of Agriculture plans to achieve 70% self-sufficiency in oilseed production in the next 10 years.
Per capita vegetable oil consumption in Iran is about 18-19 kilograms a year while the global average is 12 kilograms.
Add new comment
Read our comment policy before posting your viewpoints