Challenges of Flour Rationing and Wheat Guaranteed Price in Iran’s Flour Milling Industry

Iran’s flour industry, a critical pillar in ensuring bread supply and essential food products, is grappling with multifaceted economic and managerial challenges threatening its sustainability.

Mehdi Bahador Hadizadeh, CEO of Gol Ard Zagros, highlights issues such as inefficient flour rationing, government price controls, and misaligned guaranteed wheat purchase prices that encourage unofficial sales and smuggling. The subsidized bran price, set below production costs, harms producers and disrupts the animal feed market, further exacerbating economic inefficiencies. Hadizadeh calls for reforming subsidy structures, gradual liberalization of industrial flour prices, transparent quota distribution, and investment in modernizing production technologies. These steps are crucial to revitalizing Iran’s flour industry, improving product quality, and enhancing export potential.