Wheat Guaranteed Purchase Price Not Yet Finalized

Head of the National Wheat Growers Foundation said: Three weeks after the start of the new crop year, the government and guild organizations have yet to reach agreement on the final guaranteed purchase price for wheat. The post "Wheat Guaranteed Purchase Price Not Yet Finalized" first appeared on Safir Arjan.

According to Ambassador Arjan, Atallah Hashemi reminded that the pricing of wheat and basic products is under the control of the Pricing Council, and added: Three representatives of the government, including the Ministers of Economic Affairs and Finance and the Minister of Jihad Agriculture, as well as the head of the Program and Budget Organization, along with 6 people from organizations and experts in the agricultural sector, are members of this council.

The head of the National Wheat Farmers Foundation stated that so far several expert commission meetings and one pricing council meeting have been held to determine the guaranteed purchase price of wheat, he said: It seems that the government plans to buy wheat at a price lower than its reasonable price and then enter the flour supply cycle for bakeries through the state trading company.

Referring to yesterday's meeting of the Wheat Pricing Council, Hashemi added: "The government insists on a price of 60 thousand tomans for each kilo of wheat, which was not accepted by the representatives of the agricultural sector and the meeting ended without results."

The head of the National Wheat Growers Foundation pointed out: Reports show that the government spent 355 dollars on the import of wheat per ton, which, by calculating the current exchange rate, each kilogram of wheat import cost the government more than 95 thousand tomans, while the government now determines the price of wheat for the next 9 months.

He added: This is while the Economic Research Center of the Ministry of Jihad and Agriculture has proposed a price of 85 thousand tomans for the purchase of each kilo of domestically produced wheat.

Hashemi called for the acceleration of wheat pricing due to the beginning of the crop year and said: the crop season in the northwestern provinces of the country started a month ago and preliminary statistics indicate a 15-20 percent decrease in the area under wheat cultivation compared to the same period last year.

The head of the National Wheat Farmers Foundation added: "If the government insists on setting a low price for the guaranteed purchase of wheat, we will face a decrease in the cultivated area of this product, and the government will have to supply a part of the wheat requirement from the place of import."