Page 53 - IRANRptFeb22

Government Trading Corporation chief ‘confirms drought-hit Iran’s wheat imports set to reach record level’
For Iran, which this year suffered its worst drought in 50 years, the crop estimate was cut to 11.5mn tonnes. The previous estimate was for 14mn tonnes.
Iran has this year been importing substantial wheat consignments from Russia to address its wheat harvest deficit.
Iran’s Government Trading Corporation (GTC) chief has reportedly confirmed that the country’s wheat imports are set to reach a record level in the Persian calendar year ending March amid the impact of severe drought on domestic crops.
GTC head Yazdan Seyf was on November 3 reported by PressTV as saying that Iran has imported around 3mn tonnes of wheat since the start of the calendar year on March 21. He was further cited as saying that Iran would need to import another 5mn tonnes of wheat in the remainder of the Iranian year to ensure supplies would meet domestic demand and that purchases of wheat from domestic farmers reached 4.5mn tonnes at the end of the harvesting season in September.
Some commentators in Iran have blamed the government’s low guaranteed purchase prices (GPP) for wheat for much of the sharp fall in domestic wheat production, with the problem then exacerbated by drought conditions. Production has fallen by more than half within a couple of years.
However, Seyf was quoted as saying that a GPP of IRR 75,000 ($0.27 at the free market exchange rate) for wheat from Iranian farmers in the next harvesting season (starting May 2022) would be on a par with international prices.
Russia has provided the bulk of the wheat imported by Iran to make up for its domestic shortfall.
9.1.9 Retail sector news
Iran’s footwear industry ‘well capable of reaching billion pairs per year target’
Iran’s footwear industry is well capable of reaching an output threshold of 1bn pairs of footwear annually within a few years from its current 450mn pairs, Ali Ajdarkosh, who chairs the Iranian Guild Association of Shoe Manufacturers, told PressTV.
Hitting the target, with substantial exports to regional countries featuring in the success, would enable Iran to earn around $6bn in shoe export revenues per year, he reportedly added.
An outright ban on imports of shoes into Iran was enacted in 2018, causing rapid growth in the Iranian footwear sector.
“The ban on imports led to significant growth in the footwear industry, with Iranian manufacturers reaching a growth level within three years that would normally have been attained within 20 years,” Alireza Jabbarian, a businessman representing shoemakers of Tabriz in northwestern Iran, was quoted as saying. Tabriz is well-known for its handmade shoes.
Iranian footwear manufacturers are also said to owe their major expansion to price surges in the cost of hard currency caused by the reimposition of heavy US sanctions on Iran that began in 2018. The smuggling of foreign-made shoes into Iran almost stopped because of rising exchange prices, while consumers developed a preference for brand new Iranian shoes that were more affordable, according to the Iranian Guild Association of Shoe Manufacturers.
53 IRAN Country Report February 2022 www.intellinews.com