BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 21. The amount of wheat purchased from farmers in Iran’s North Khorasan Province under a guarantee since the beginning of the current wheat harvesting season (started March 28, 2023) decreased by 4.5 percent compared with the same time last season, Director General of Iran’s Government Trading Corporation’s branch in North Khorasan Province, Ahmad Namvar, said, Trend reports.
Namvar noted that around 98,800 tons of wheat worth 14.8 trillion rials (about $353 million) were purchased from farmers in the province under a guarantee within the specified period.
“Meanwhile, in the same period last season, the volume of purchased wheat exceeded 103,000 tons,” he added.
According to the director general, a total of 10.5 trillion rials (about $250 million) has been paid to farmers for wheat purchased so far.
Namvar stressed that currently, work is underway to pay the remaining 4.33 trillion rials (about $103 million) to farmers.
Last year (March 21, 2022 through March 20, 2023), 108,000 tons of wheat were purchased from farmers in the province. In the current year (March 21, 2023 through March 19, 2024), there is a decrease in the purchase of wheat due to drought.
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 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 for ordinary agricultural land.
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