BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 4. The amount of wheat purchased from farmers in Iran under a guarantee since the beginning of the current wheat harvesting season (started March 28, 2023), in the country, increased by 32 percent compared to the same period of the previous season, Executive Director of Iranian Government Trading Corporation (GTC), Saeed Rad said, Trend reports citing the GTC’s website.
According to him, Iranian Government Trading Corporation has purchased 1 million tons of wheat from local farmers under a guarantee from the beginning of the current harvesting season in the country (March 28, 2023) to date.
Meanwhile in the same period previous season, a total of 759,000 tons of wheat have been purchased, Rad added.
He noted that currently, the process of purchasing wheat in 7 out of 31 provinces of the country continues. Some 623,000 tons of wheat were purchased in Khuzestan Province, 117,000 tons in Kerman Province, 85,000 tons in Fars Province, and 83,000 tons in Bushehr Province.
“Along with wheat, the process of purchasing rapeseed from local farmers is also ongoing. During the mentioned period, 33,000 tons of rapeseed were purchased from farmers in 7 provinces. Of that, 24,000 tons were purchased in Khuzestan Province alone,” the official said.
Overall, 13 million tons of wheat are forecasted to be harvested in Iran for the current Iranian year (March 21, 2023 through March 19, 2024). Of that amount, 8-8.5 million tons are estimated to be purchased by Iranian Government Trading Corporation (GTC).
Meanwhile, last Iranian year (March 21, 2022 through March 20, 2023), about 11.5 million tons of wheat were harvested in the country, of which 7.5 million tons were purchased by the GTC.
Last year, the price of 1 kg of wheat was set up at 115,000 rials (about $2.74), while, 1 kg of wheat is set at 130,000 rials (about $3.09) for the current season.
However, considering that the set price is low, the Economic Council in Iran will determine the new price for wheat to be purchased from farmers in the next week (April 1 through April 8).
In total, wheat was planted on 5.95 million hectares of land in Iran in the current season. Of this, 3.96 million hectares accounted for dry-farming land, while 1.99 million hectares for ordinary agricultural land.
A number of products, including wheat, tea, rice, and other products are purchased from farmers by GTC under a guarantee in Iran.
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