• Dr. Parviz Jahangiri, Secretary of Iran Additives’ Association: Getting the value added tax without laying the proper foundation for it has had negative results for the Iran society so far. The way the government is getting the VAT from the food producers is a lose-lose situation both for the government and the society. Sudden decisions without consulting the private sector has made production in Iran a challenging task while it should have been helping the economy.
• Afrooz Bahrami, CEO of The Export Guarantee Fund of Iran: The economic situation of Iran at the moment does not have the foundations for a homogenous exchange rate of foreign currencies. From the sales point of view, the income from selling the oil would face volatile rates and on the other hand as for the demand, the foreign currencies would be viewed as an asset not a means of payment.
• Ali Akbari, Member of the Agriculture Commission in the Islamic Parliament of Iran: Every year, about 3 million tons of wheat with the 900 Tomans price is being given to the confectionary, pasta and starch sectors. Since these are not included in the main food of the society, allocating governmental rate to them is not economically justifiable.
• Ali Shah Hosseini, PhD in Management: The reduction of water levels in Iran and not using the modern irrigation systems would lead the agriculture of Iran to be like the ones in African countries, without being able to produce the demands of the society. While the Arabian countries, with even worse situation than Iran are using modern methods for agriculture and soon will be important players in the agriculture sector of the region.
• Asghar Damirchi, Head of Private Sector’s Silo Owners’ Association: Unfortunately, the unfair competition between the silo owners and the numerous challenges that they are facing for paying the governmental loans has made this business to have no benefits over the public sector.
• Khan Ahmad, Head of the Grain Purchase Office in GTC: According to the government’s circular in June, there is this possibility that the flour mills buy their needed wheat directly from the farmers. Therefore, the flour mills can register in the system in order to be able to buy the wheat.
• Mohsen Lozoomian, Head of the Industrial Bread Union: According to the government’s regulations, the price of industrial bread does not have to be in accordance to what the government announces for the other types of bread. However, because of the bad economy, if the producers of industrial bread want to increase the price, they would lose their customers.
• Shafagh, Vice President of Commerce in Mak Pasta: Regarding the price of the wheat for the industries in Iran which is not subsidized and is sold at 1850 Tomans per kilo, allocating the CBI rate for importing wheat to pasta producers would be the breach of law.
