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Iran plans to export 2 million metric tons of wheat in the current Iranian calendar year after a cut in government subsidies reduced domestic consumption of the grain, Economy and Finance Minister Shamseddin Hosseini said today in an interview.

Iran had no wheat exports in the previous year and forecasts an increase in output beyond the 15 million metric tons produced last year, he said without giving an amount.

“Our agricultural sector will experience a better situation,” Hosseini said in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he was attending the annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank. “We increased the price of wheat 30 times. Previously, lots of wheat and flour was destroyed and wasted in the country” or was smuggled out, he said.

Iran is grappling with international economic and financial sanctions over its nuclear development and the implementation of a five-year program that began in December to phase out energy and food subsidies.

Iran is targeting economic growth of 6 percent in the Iranian year that began March 21, he said. Inflation will continue to accelerate until November, from 14.2 percent last month, thou... >>>