BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 14. The amount of wheat purchased from local farmers in Iran under a guarantee since the beginning of the current wheat harvesting season (started March 28, 2023) increased by 40 percent, or 2.5 million tons, compared to the same period of the previous season, Iranian Deputy Minister of Agriculture Jihad Alireza Mohajer said,Trend reports.
"In total, 9.52 million tons of wheat were purchased from farmers under a guarantee in the country within the mentioned period," he noted.
The deputy minister added that despite the drought in the country last year and this year, the purchase of the mentioned volume of wheat is gratifying. Moreover, the wheat harvesting season is still going on.
Overall, 13 million tons of wheat are forecast to be harvested in Iran for the current Iranian year (March 21, 2023–March 19, 2024). Of that amount, 8–8.5 million tons are estimated to be purchased by the Iranian Government Trading Corporation (GTC).
Meanwhile, last Iranian year (March 21, 2022–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 at 115,000 rials (about $2.74), while 1 kg of wheat is set at 150,000 rials (about $3.57) for the current season.
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 were ordinary agricultural land.
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