FAO: Iran decreasing wheat imports

Iran has built ample stocks of wheat, the dominant cereal in the country - accounting for nearly 70 percent of total cereal production - in the early months of 2012, the FAO said in a country brief on Iran on its website (www.fao.org). Total cereal imports are forecast to remain high at 7.3 million tons, including maize, wheat and rice, it said. Iran's 2012 wheat output is preliminarily forecast to fall below 2011 levels to 13.5 million tons, hit by erratic rainfall in the main wheat producing areas. That would still be about the average level of the previous five years, the Rome-based FAO said. Iran reached self-sufficiency in producing wheat a few years ago and even started brief exports, but fell behind domestic consumption due to increasing demand and rain scarcity in certain parts of the country.