Baku, Azerbaijan, May 23
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
More than 1.37 million metric tons of wheat has been purchased from domestic farmers in the current crop year, said Heshmatollah Nazari, the spokesman for purchasing wheat at Bank Keshavarzi.
The wheat purchases are related to 14 provinces of Ilam, Bushehr, Khuzestan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Fars, Kerman, Hormozgan, Kermanshah, Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad, South Khorasan, Qom, Lorestan, Isfahan, and North Khorasan, Iran's IRNA news agency reported on May 23.
So far, about $500 million has been paid to wheat farmers, he noted.
Last year, some 7 million metric tons of wheat were purchased from farmers. According to statistics of Iran's agriculture Ministry, it is predicted that the country's wheat output to hit 11 million metric tons in the current Iranian fiscal year, which began on March 21.
Iranian Deputy Agriculture Minister Abbas Keshavarz said in August 2014 that Iran will not be able to reach self-sufficiency in wheat production in the next four years.
"The country's total production will reach 13.4 million metric tons by the end of the Iranian calendar year of 1397 (to end March 20, 2019)," he added.
"The country's wheat imports will also stand at 1.35 million metric tons by the end of the mentioned year," he said.
Iran is one of the world's biggest importers of milling wheat. The country experienced a short period of self-sufficiency a couple of years ago, but reclined back to its old trend in the face of a protracted drought.