Iran imported 63,000 tonnes of animal feed wheat in the three months to June, an agriculture ministry official told Reuters on Monday. "Iran imported 160,000 tonnes of feed wheat in the year to March 2005," added Fazlollah Saffee Khani, a senior official in the ministry's wheat project.
The trade ministry confirmed the figures but said it was imposing a moratorium on issuing tenders for imports of feed wheat. It gave no indication of when this could be lifted.
"Owing to problems of quality, a moratorium has been imposed," said import official Mohammad Javad Najafi.
Saffee Khani said there had been some problems with animal feed wheat being sold on to bakeries.
Iran, formerly a big importer of grains from Canada, Australia and Argentina, last year held a ceremony to celebrate self-sufficiency in wheat, marking the first time in 40 years it did not need to import the grain.
Mohammad Reza Eskandari, the Agriculture Ministry's wheat project manager, has said Iran's wheat production, including feed wheat, would exceed 15 million tonnes in the year to March 2006.
Iran's Agriculture Ministry said that last year it expected production would reach 11.38 million tonnes in the year to March 2005, satisfying domestic consumption of 11.04 million tonnes.
Iran has said it hopes to export wheat by 2008.
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