by 
Anatoly Medetsky
  • Deliveries required by April for blending with domestic crop
  • Nation’s crop this year seen biggest in nine years: USDA

Iran’s flour-milling industry needs imports of 1 million metric tons of high-quality wheat by April to supply domestic bread and confectionery producers, the Federation of Iranian Food-Industry Associations said.

Shipments are needed for blending with Iran’s own wheat, which typically has a lower gluten content, Kaveh Zargaran, secretary general of the Tehran-based group, said in an interview in Moscow. Gluten is the component of wheat that gives dough its strength.

Iran ordered a halt to registration of wheat-import contracts for the year that started March 21 on the grounds that domestic stockpiles and output were sufficient. That reduced demand on the global market amid a supply glut.

Companies in countries such as Russia, Germany and Lithuania, which registered their deals before the halt, delivered about 1 million tons during the year before their registrations expired, Zargaran said. The government may consider a resumption of imports after the nation completes harvesting in October, he said.

Iran is set to produce 15.5 million tons of wheat this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That would be the biggest crop in nine years, USDA data show.