- Ahmad Sadeghiyan, head of Agriculture Committee of Iran Chamber of Commerce: After lifting the sanctions, the food industry has faced improvements. However, regarding the foreign investment, none of the industries could make any progress. Unlike the 40 to 50 million dollar target which have been set for the current year, until now, only 2 billion dollars have been invested in Iran by foreign investors.
- Dr Ghanbari, the CEO of the GTC: Although the difference in price of local wheat and the imported wheat will harm the industry, the government’s goal is supporting the farmers. Therefore, the prices would be set according to the farmer’s request; even if, those prices are higher that the international market price.
- Vice president of GTC’s Internal Trade: There is a total of 10 million tonnes of wheat flour in Iran which 7.5 million tonnes of it is subsidised and is for baking bread and 2.5 million tonnes of it is for pasta making companies and other uses. This amount of flour should be taken from 11.5 million tonnes wheat and regarding the 14 millione tonne production of wheat, we have about 2.5 million tonnes as surplus. In addition to that, there is about 5 million tonnes of wheat in stock from last year which would make the total amount of wheat in Iran to 7.5 million tonnes which some of it could be exported.
- Mr Noghreh, one of the directors of Iran’s Fantasy Bread Union: According to the latest reports, the total use of Fantasy bread in Tehran is 12 percent and in other cities around 7 percent. This shows a 2 percent increase in Fantasy bread consumers. The per capita consumption for Fantasy bread in Iran is about 9 percent. (In Iran the bulky bread which is thought to be western is called Fantasy bread. Most people in Iran prefer to use different kinds of the local flat bread such as Lavash, Barbari, Sangak and Taftoon).
- Asgar Oladi, Head of Iran-Russia Chamber of Commerce: The total trade between Iran and Russia in 2012 and 2013 got to 2 billion dollars from which 1 billion was the exported goods and 900 million dollars was for the imported ones. It is estimated that the 2016 exports to Russia would be 500 million dollars and the imports would be 1.3 billion dollars. Because of problems in trade, Iran has not been able to increase exports.
- Dr Koohi, toxicologist: At the moment, you can find baking soda with Ph8 in Iran’s bread, this shows too much use of baking soda in people’s daily diet.
- Head of Shahid Beheshti Port: 17 million euros worth of grain pumps have been bought for Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar. A famous German company has won the tender for supplying these grain pumps.
- Faghihi, Head of Iran and Africa Council for Economic Cooperation: At the moment, there are no non-stop flights between Iran and African countries. Therefore, business people have to spend more time and money on other flights. We have the same problem for exporting goods to African countries; Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has had relations with some ports in north, west and east of Africa; however, there is no connection today and the exports face many problems.
- Massaebi, head of Iran’s Starch Association: The most important issue for glucose producing plants is the ban on wheat imports. The wheat in Iran does not have enough gluten and it is not suitable for using in the glucose industry.
- Head of GTC’s Technical Depatment: There is still one million tonne shortage in storage facilities. There is 12 million tonnes storage capacity in Iran from which 4 million tonnes is for the government and 8 million tonnes belong to private sector.
- Tak Makaron’s R&D: In order to deliver healthy pasta to Iranian customers, Tak Makaron offers a range of enriched products such as pasta enriched with B vitamins, zinc, fiber, omega3, probiotics, vitamin D and calcium. In addition to pasta, this company produces multi-grain cake mix and enriched breakfast cereals.
