February 27, 2012

 

 

The International Grains Council (IGC) said Friday (Feb 24) that in the current marketing year, Iran's wheat imports may reach one million tonnes, twice the volume previously estimated.

 

The IGC raised its forecast for Iran's 2011-12 total grain imports by 16% to 5.2 million tonnes, an increase of 24%, due to increased purchases of milling wheat and of feed wheat to replace costlier corn.

 

Iran's wheat output in the year ending June 30 will likely fall 11% to 13.8 million tonnes, while its total grain output may fall 9.7% to 18.7 million tonnes, the IGC said.

 

Several countries including Iran have recently bought more wheat for animal feed as a substitute for higher-priced corn, IGC said.

 

Iran's 2011-12 wheat imports may even exceed two million tonnes because it faces difficulties sourcing costlier corn, industry executives said.

 

"Recently there have been some problems in corn trade with Iran but I am not aware of the details," said Andrew Druzyaka, an adviser at the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine.

 

Ukraine sold 363,000 tonnes of corn to Iran in the October-December quarter, he said.

 

Iran has recently turned to Australia, Canada and Russia, among other countries, to secure wheat and aggressively replenish its stocks. Its efforts are largely due to concerns about the latest international sanctions against it over its disputed nuclear programme and what may come next in its dispute with the West.

 

Australia may export more grains to Iran due to sanctions imposed by the US and the EU over Iran's disputed nuclear programme, Alan Winney, chairman of the Emerald Group, one of Australia's biggest wheat exporters, said this week.

 

Large transnational commodity traders dealing with multiple origins supply Australian grains to Iran by opening lines of credit through first class banks, Winney said.