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Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-iran-grainbre82e0za-20120315,0,6485785.story
Iran Stockpiling Food Ahead of Sanctions
(Reuters-Chicago Tribune) Jonathan Saul and Michael Hogan - Vessels carrying at least 396,832 tons of grain are lined up to unload in Iran, Reuters shipping data showed on Thursday, a sign that Tehran is succeeding in stockpiling food to blunt the impact of tougher Western sanctions. Iran has been shopping for wheat at a frantic pace, ordering a large part of its expected yearly requirement in a little over one month and paying a premium to work around toughened Western sanctions. Food shipments are not targeted under Western sanctions, but financial measures have frozen Iranian firms out of much of the global banking system. "They are trying to get as much (wheat) as they can in the country to blunt the effect of any further escalation in international sanctions," Rabobank commodities analyst Nick Higgins said. Iran is close to self-sufficient in wheat most years, but needs to import when the harvest is weak, as it is expected to be this year.