Azernews.Az

Iran should stop trading oil for wheat, as the country has reached self-sufficiency in wheat production, an Iranian MP said.

"Iran should trade its oil for products that are really needed inside the country like grain and provender," the PANA news agency quoted Iraj Nadimi as saying.

The reports say that Iran has signed some contracts with India and Pakistan to trade its oil for wheat. The wheat issue is very sensitive for Iran with 75.2 million people.

Iran imported 3 million tons of wheat in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 20, deputy industry, mine and trade minister Hamin Safdel said.

The previous reports said Iran's wheat import stood at 7-10 million tons in the first six months of the current year.

Hadi Ghavami, parliamentary Plan and Budget Committee member, earlier said that Iran imported much more than a half of its annual wheat from abroad.

Fars news agency quoted Ghavami on October 2 as saying that Iran imported 7 million tons of its 12 million annual wheat demand during the last six months (Iranian year begins in March 20).

The chairman of the agriculture committee at the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines also had criticized importing 7-10 million tons of wheat during the six-month period.

Mohammad-Hossein Karimi told the Mehr news agency that such a high volume of wheat imports is alarming.

"This is though it had been projected that the annual domestic wheat production would hit 14 million tons and that the country would export its surplus wheat," he noted.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Iran's rice output will remain unchanged at 2.4 million tons, but wheat output will decline by 4 percent to13.5 million tons.

In August, Press TV quoted Jihad Javad Hosseini, the advisor to the Agriculture Minister, as saying that Iran is the 12th biggest producer of wheat in the world.