Iran needs to import 4.5 mln tons of wheat by yearend

Iran is expected to significantly increase its wheat imports in the calendar year to late March amid a fall in domestic production that has been caused by drought and low government purchase prices.

News ID: 2001756

Head of Iran’s National Syndicate of Wheat Farmers Ataollah Hashemi said on Sunday that wheat imports into Iran are expected to reach some 4.5 million metric tons (mt) in the year to late March, Press TV reported.

He stated that domestic wheat production in Iran had fallen by 5 million mt or 31% to nearly 11 million mt year on year in the April-August harvesting season, adding that the government’s purchases of locally-produced wheat had also declined by 4.4 million mt or 36% to 7.6 million mt over the same period.

Hashemi said that the value of wheat purchased from Iranian farmers was around 1,600 trillion rials (1.74 billion) this year.

He said the fall in the domestic wheat crop was mainly due to a drought that affected dry-land farming across Iran as well as government purchase rates that were lower than free market prices.

Officials in the Iranian ministry of agriculture said in April that the country may be forced to import up to 6 million mt of wheat this calendar year to respond to the rising domestic demand for the grain.

Iran spent more than $3 billion last year to buy nearly 12 million mt of wheat from its farmers.

The bumper crop enabled the government to declare self-sufficiency in wheat production and stop placing orders for sizable shipments of the crop from countries like Russia./mehr