by PressWheat production in Algeria: forecast from the ministry
Wheat production in Algeria will increase compared to last season
The relevant ministry has presented a report on the situation in agriculture. It is predicted that the production of wheat in Algeria could exceed 3 million tons. For comparison, last season local farmers harvested 2 million tons.
In addition, experts highly estimate the stock of grain in state warehouses. These volumes should be enough for 10 months to meet the demand in the domestic market.
Increasing its own production will allow Algeria to reduce imports. In the previous marketing year, the country purchased more than 8 million tons of wheat, and this year the figure may be at 7 million tons.
In addition to wheat, local farmers also increase the production of barley by 0.4 million tons — up to 1.4 million tons. However, this forecast will not affect the volume of imports, which are likely to remain at the level of 0.5 million tons.
Expert Chaslau Koniukh notes that the price of wheat has been rising steadily since the beginning of the year, which is explained by the continued high demand. Buyers are interested especially in varieties of crops with high protein content, as there are fears that their global production will decline.
Algeria ranks fifth in the world in terms of wheat procurement, the process is carried out through public tenders. France and Canada are considered the main suppliers of grain to the country. Most flour varieties for bread production are supplied from France to Algeria, while Canada sells durum varieties, from which local companies make couscous and pasta.
For 10 years already, France has been importing almost 60% of the country’s total purchases of flour wheat. In addition, Algeria receives grain from Poland, the Baltic countries, and Germany.
French wheat is highly valued by Algerian buyers because of a number of factors. The proximity of countries reduces the cost of transportation and speeds up the process of delivery of products. In addition, the quality of grain meets the phytosanitary requirements in force in Algeria.
Despite the long dominance of French imports in the Algerian market, last year the authorities decided to review the supply from France and increased imports from Germany. One of the reasons was problems with the quality of French grain, which arose due to a prolonged drought during the ripening period of the plants.
In addition, the Algerian authorities bought batches from other European exporters. However, the geopolitical conflict has so far put cooperation with these suppliers on pause. The government had to turn to France again, and in June it bought 90 thousand tons of wheat through a tender. The price of grain was $480 per ton, and deliveries were made by the end of August.