Govt. guaranteed wheat purchases reach 10m tons

Some 10 million tons of wheat have been purchased from
Iranian farmers at guaranteed prices in the current Iranian calendar year
(started on March 21), according to the data provided by the Government Trade
Company (GTC).

A Tuesday statement from the Government Trading Corporation
(GTC) said the volume of wheat purchased from domestic farmers since the start
of harvest in April had increased by 43% compared to the same period last year.

GTC’s CEO Saeid Raad, a deputy agriculture minister, said
the value of wheat purchased over the period had reached 1,500 trillion rials
(over $3 billion).

The major rise in domestic supply of wheat in Iran comes
months after the country decided to increase its purchase price for the grain
amid concerns that the war in Ukraine may impact global markets and affect
imports. 

The policy was also meant to boost Iran’s wheat inventories
and help domestic farmers offset losses suffered in recent years because of
inflation.

Raad said the government had made payments to almost half of
the wheat farmers in Iran under its guaranteed purchase mechanism which offers
150,000 rials ($0.3) for each kilogram of wheat supplied to government silos.