August 14, 2023

Iran witnesses 37% surge in domestic wheat purchases amid promising yields

Iran's domestic wheat purchases have surged by 37% during the harvest period between April and early August compared to the same period last year, according to an official statement from the country's Ministry of Agriculture, Tasim News reported.

Mohajer, Deputy Ministry of Agriculture for Arable Farming, revealed that the government has procured over 9 million metric tonnes (mt) of wheat from domestic farmers since April. This figure marks a remarkable increase of more than 104% when compared to the period of April to August 2021. The growth in dry-land farming activity has significantly contributed to the positive outlook for wheat yields in Iran this year.

Saeid Raad, chief executive officer of the Government Trading Corporation (GTC), a Ministry of Agriculture subsidiary responsible for staple grain supply, highlighted the substantial surge in wheat purchases in specific provinces. Wheat procurements in certain regions have nearly doubled this year in comparison to the previous year, with Khuzestan and Fars provinces emerging as the leading wheat suppliers. Khuzestan has delivered 1.72 million mt, while Fars has contributed nearly 1 million mt of wheat to GTC silos.

Raad said that the total value of wheat purchased from Iranian farmers since April has exceeded IRR 1,340 trillion (~US$268 million; IRR 10,000 = US$0.24). Notably, around 70% of the payments to wheat farmers have already been settled.

The reported domestic wheat purchase figure exceeds earlier government forecasts announced for this year by 1 million mt. This impressive performance is attributed to the government's guaranteed purchase programme, which offers a favourable price of 150,000 rials ($0.3) per kg for wheat.

Experts anticipate that Iran's total wheat output for this year could reach 14.5 million mt, indicating a growth from the 13.2 million mt reported in 2022.

-      Tasim News