BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 9. The amount of wheat purchased from local farmers in Iran’s Khuzestan Province under a guarantee since the beginning of the current wheat harvesting season (started March 28, 2023), in the country, increased by 29 percent, compared to the same period of the previous season, Director General of Iranian Government Trading Corporation’s branch in Khuzestan Province Omid Jahan Nejadian said, Trend reports citing the corporation’s website.
According to Jahan Nejadian, approximately 1.07 million tons of wheat were purchased from farmers in Khuzestan Province for the reporting period.
“Of the mentioned volume, 685,000 tons were purchased by the Central Union of Rural and Agricultural Cooperatives of Iran, while over 380,000 tons of wheat was purchased by the Iranian Government Trading Corporation (GTC) and the private sector,” he added.
The director general noted that so far, 40 trillion rials (about $952 million) have been paid to farmers in the province for purchased wheat.
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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