September 4, 2012

Due to contamination in their produce, Iran will not import wheat from India and Pakistan.

Asghar Shayan said that several years ago a specialised group was sent to Pakistan for evaluating the health of Pakistani wheat. It found the produce was contaminated.

This year, a specialised group was dispatched to India and reported that their wheat produce is also contaminated, he added.

No wheat has been imported since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 20) from the two countries, he noted.

Iran's wheat output will amount to 13-14 million tonnes in the current year which ends on March 20, 2013, the advisor to the minister of Agricultural Jihad stated.

Javad Hosseini said that the wheat yield will be sufficient for domestic use.

Iran imported some 2.3 million tonnes of wheat from 13 countries during the first four months of the current calendar year, the ISNA News Agency reported.

Switzerland was the major exporter of wheat to Iran with 604,000 tonnes of exports. Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, and Brazil ranked next.

US, Azerbaijan, Austria, Uzbekistan, UAE, Turkmenistan, Singapore, and Kazakhstan also exported wheat to Iran during the mentioned period of time.