April 26, 2012

Iran's grain imports seen to down 5.8%

Due to purchases in the beginning of this year boosted stockpiles, Iran's grain imports are expected to drop 5.8% over the next year through to March 2013, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.

Iran's wheat import needs are expected to drop 32% on year to 1.7 million tonnes in the 2012-13 financial year (April/March) thanks to higher carryover stocks from the current season, the FAO.

 Iran has built ample stocks of wheat, the dominant cereal in the country -- accounting for nearly 70% of total cereal production -- in the early months of 2012, the FAO stated in a country brief on Iran on its website.

Grain imports in 2012-13 may slip to 7.3 million tonnes from 7.75 million tonnes in the previous year, the Rome-based FAO wrote in the report, dated April 19. Wheat imports may slump 32%, according to the UN agency.

Iran has completed its 2012 barley harvest, and farmers will start to bring in the wheat crop in June, according to the FAO. Wheat production is forecast to decline on below-average rainfall from late November to mid January, it said.

"Despite the anticipated lower production in 2012, wheat imports in the new financial year are forecast at 1.7 million tonnes, some 32% below the previous year mainly due to higher carryover stocks from the current season due to large purchases in early months of 2012," the FAO wrote.

Total grain imports are expected to remain high on imports of corn and rice, according to the agency.

Iran's 2012 barley crop is estimated to remain little changed at three million tonnes, while paddy rice production is estimated to be stable at 2.4 million tonnes, the report showed. The wheat harvest may slip 3.6% to 13.5 million tonnes.

"Wheat is the dominant cereal in the country," the FAO wrote. "Irrigated wheat covers only one-third of the total wheat area, thus the majority of wheat crops depend on the performance of the rains."