BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 18. Iranian Government Trading Corporation (GTC) has purchased more than 100,000 tons of wheat from farmers under a guarantee since the beginning of the current harvesting season in the country (March 28 through April 17, 2023), Executive Director of the GTC, Saeed Rad said, Trend reports citing the corporation’s website.
“Currently, the GTC continues to purchase wheat from local farmers in 6 provinces of Iran - Khuzestan, Kerman, Sistan and Baluchestan, Hormozgan, Bushehr and Fars provinces,” the director said.
Rad added that a total of 1.5 million tons of wheat are expected to be purchased from farmers in Iran’s Khuzestan Province under a guarantee for the current season.
According to him, the guaranteed wheat purchasing this season is planned to last until September 22, 2023.
Overall, 13 million tons of wheat are forecasted to be harvested in Iran for the current Iranian year (March 21, 2023 through March 19, 2024). Of that amount, 8-8.5 million tons are estimated to be purchased by the GTC.
Meanwhile, in the last Iranian year (March 21, 2022 through March 20, 2023), about 11.5 million tons of wheat were harvested in the country, of which 7.5 million tons were purchased by Iranian Government Trading Corporation.
Last year, the price of 1 kg of wheat was set up at 115,000 rials (about $2.74), while, 1 kg of wheat is set at 130,000 rials (about $3.09) for the current season.
However, considering that the set price is low, the Economic Council in Iran will determine the new price for wheat to be purchased from farmers in the next week (April 1 through April 8).
In total, wheat was planted on 5.95 million hectares of land in Iran in the current season. Of this, 3.96 million hectares accounted for dry-farming land, while 1.99 million hectares for ordinary agricultural land.
---
Follow the author on Twitter:@BaghishovElnur