The Government Trading Corporation of Iran (G.T.C.) is affiliated to the
Ministry of Commerce and assigned to import essential commodities such as
wheat, sugar, rice, crude vegetable oil, fertilizers, frozen chicken and baby
milk powder. These commodities are delivered to the recipient organization(s)
and they distribute the commodities inside the country. These activities result
in approximately two billion dollars turnover per annum.
The company was founded in 1954 under the name of Foreign Transactions Company (F.T.C.).
In 1977, after some organizational and legal transformations, G.T.C. was
established.
G.T.C. operates under the supervision of its board of directors and
a purchasing committee. The purchasing committee makes all the decisions
related to purchasing the goods and the relevant contracts. The committee
consists of representatives from the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of
Economics and Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Administration and
Planning Organization, the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the
recipient organization(s) and G.T.C.. The Iranian Parliament also
closely monitors the activities of the committee (three parliamentarians attend
the committee sessions as observers).
In accordance with the law,
the purchasing committee is fully authorized to decide about the relevant
issues and its decisions are final and binding.
G.T.C. applies different methods for buying commodities. These methods
are as follows:
1- Tendering:
In this method G.T.C. invites the sellers to participate in a tender. After assessing the offers received from the sellers and some negotiations with each seller, the purchasing committee decides to purchase goods according to the best price offered( the same process may be done at the committee session through telephone calls).
2- Sending representative(s) to seller's country or hosting seller's representative(s) in Iran:
In this method purchasing the goods depends on reaching an agreement after negotiations If both parties reach an agreement then, G.T.C. will buy the relevant goods from the seller.
3- Receiving seller's unsolicited offer:
Sometimes a seller may
offer to sell good(s) at a competitive price. In this case G.T.C. will
purchase the good(s) after assessing the offer and negotiating with the seller.
Five departments in G.T.C. handle the affairs related to
purchasing the goods:
· FPD1 that handles the purchasing of wheat and sugar,
· FPD2 that handles the purchasing of Paper & Vegetable oils,
· FPD3 that handles the purchasing rice, frozen chicken and baby milk powder,
· Documents and Banking Department that deals with the banking affairs,
· Operations Department that handles the transportation and carrying of the goods.