BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 9. The amount of wheat purchased from farmers in Iran’s Markazi Province under a guarantee since the beginning of the current wheat harvesting season in the country (started March 28, 2023), increased by 30 percent compared to the same period last season, said Hassan Mirzakhani, deputy governor of Markazi Province, Trend reports.
“More than 252,000 tons of wheat worth 37.8 trillion rials (about $900 million) have been purchased from farmers under a guarantee in the province for the reporting period,” Mirzakhani noted.
He added that so far, farmers have been paid approximately 24.3 trillion rials (about $578 million) for the purchased wheat, which is accounting for 60 percent of total value.
The official also pointed out that the remaining fund will be paid by the end of 6th month of current Iranian year (September 22, 2023).
Overall, 13 million tons of wheat are forecast 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 the 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 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.
---
Follow the author on X (Twitter):@BaghishovElnur
