GTC: Domestic Wheat Purchases Top 2.9 Million mt

Date: 28 May 2023 - 23:05

News ID: ۱۱۵۵۵۰

TEHRAN - A senior official from Iran’s Government Trading Corporation (GTC) says wheat purchases from domestic farmers increased by 34% year in year in April-May to exceed 2.9 million metric tons (mt).
Heidar Ali Nasr said that wheat purchases were continuing in 19 provinces in mostly warmer regions of Iran.
Earlier reports indicated that the southwestern province of Khuzestan had supplied nearly 1.7 million mt of wheat to GTC silos in the past two months.
Iran expects to buy some 8 million mt of wheat from domestic farmers this year under its guaranteed purchase program.
Head of Iran’s Plan and Budget Organization (PBO), a body which is responsible for government resources and financing, said wheat is being purchased from domestic farmers at a guaranteed price of 150,000 rials ($0.3).
“We can import the same type of wheat at a price of 110,000 rials. So we pay more than what we pay for imports to keep self-sufficiency in wheat crop,” said Davoud Manzour.
He said that the government has already paid 110 trillion rials (220 million) for domestic purchases of wheat this year, adding that the total funds needed to settle wheat payments to farmers would amount to 1,200 trillion rials (2.4 billion) until the end of this year’s harvest in late July.
Estimates suggest that total wheat output in Iran could reach 14.5 million mt this year, up from 13.2 million mt reported in 2022.