Azerbaijan, Baku, July 22/Trend M. Moezzi
After Iranian businessmen pulled out of a deal to buy a million tonnes of wheat from Pakistan because the grain was contaminated, Iran's government has stepped in to trade it chemical fertilizer for Pakistani wheat.
Agreement on the deal was reached between a high level delegation from Pakistan and government officials in Tehran a few days ago, Pana news agency reports.
The two issues that were obstacles for the Iranian sector, the wheat's price and its quality, were resolved by the two countries' governments. The price for the fertilizer and wheat to be exchanged by the Iran and Pakistan will be whatever world prices are for the two commodities. As for quality, the Pakistanis say levels of the fungus infecting their wheat are acceptable. The Karnal bunt fungus makes wheat inedible because of the odor and taste it leaves behind. Pakistan says its wheat is .3 percent infected with Karnal bunt while contamination of up to 1 percent is acceptable.
Many countries in the world have a zero tolerance policy toward importing wheat that is infected with the fungus.
First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi recently met with petrochemical producers to discuss barters with other countries.
Iran's economy is under increasing pressure because of the international sanctions levied against its oil industry and Central Bank because of the country's nuclear development programme. The sanctions make it nearly impossible for Iran to conduct financial transactions and move money around the globe.
In mid-March, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) expelled a number of Iranian financial institutions, including the Central Bank, making it almost impossible for them to conduct international banking transactions. SWIFT connects 9,700 banking and financial institutions in 209 countries, according to its own website.
On 28 June, the United States' sanctions over the Iranian Central Bank came to force. U.S. law penalises countries that do business with the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) by denying their banks access to the United States financial markets. Blacklisting the CBI which involves transferring payments for exported Iranian crude oil is leading to a decrease in Iran's oil exports by 50 per cent to 1.1 million barrels per day, costing more than $3 billion which the Iranian government lost per month. Its 50 per cent of revenues relies on oil exports.