by PressAlgeria plans to increase imports of Ukrainian grain
Import of Ukrainian grain is important for Algeria
The difficult weather conditions in Algeria forced the government to look for new suppliers of crops. To this end, the authorities had to revise their requirements for foreign products, now the tender rules comply with global market standards. Such changes made it possible to increase imports of Ukrainian grain.
The other day representatives of Ukraine and Algeria met and discussed a number of areas of cooperation, including the agricultural sector. The African country plans to increase the volume of supplies from Ukraine. Moreover, the parties note that the importer has every chance to become one of the largest sellers of grain to Algeria.
It should be noted that Ukrainian producers have been supplying their products to the country for a long time, but in small volumes. For example, in the season 2020/2021 local traders exported to African states a little more than 200 thousand tons of grain. The reason for this was the high bidding requirements from the Algerian buyers, which made it difficult for producers from the Black Sea region to supply.
Previously, the Algerian association, which dealt with agriculture, noted that in terms of quality requirements only a small fraction of Ukrainian products met the standards. First of all, it was the share of grains that were damaged by insects — it should not have been more than 0.5%. However, the revised rules allow for 1% content, which can significantly increase the supply from Ukraine. Especially since such standards are in place in other countries of the region, such as Egypt and Morocco, while Tunisia has no such requirements in principle.
Ukrainian producers presented the Algerian side with a document detailing the possibilities of grain production and export potential. Officials appreciate the chances of the states to strengthen and significantly expand trade relations in terms of agricultural products. Now it remains for Algeria to revise and adopt new quality standards at the legislative level.
The Ukrainian side is interested in such a partner, especially since the volume of grain crop production allows it to increase exports. It is expected that in the current marketing year the harvest will amount to more than 57 million tons, which is almost 29% higher than it was in the previous season.
For a long time, the main importer of wheat for Algeria has been France. However, after unfavorable weather conditions the products of this supplier turned out to be of insufficient quality. Therefore, Algeria was forced to increase its purchases of grain and Australia and South America. In addition, not so long ago, as a result of a tender, a contract for the supply of 400 thousand tons of wheat from Europe was signed, which included grain from France, Poland and Germany.