ALGERIA – Wheat imports for Algeria are expected to remain elevated at 8.7 million tonnes in 2024-25, according to a Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report from the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture released on Jan. 30.
Algeria is among the largest consumers of wheat in the world whose consumption accounts for 60% of the food ration in the country.
The country consumes an average of 11 million tonnes of wheat per year, making it the second consumer of the commodity in North Africa behind Egypt.
However, although domestic production has improved over the years, it remains weather-driven and does not meet domestic demand. Local production only meets a third of its needs.
The USDA attributes the high import forecast to lower production as a result of below-average rain and soil moisture, which would create conditions for lower-than-average wheat and barley production for the 2024-25 marketing year, beginning July.
As a result, wheat imports for 2023-24 are projected to reach 8.7 million tonnes, the highest since 8.4 million tonnes in 2016-17, and remain there in the upcoming season.
Barley imports, on the other had are projected to reach 700,000 tonnes.
The FAS said its wheat import estimate also, is based on private trade reports of a relatively strong pace of imports by the government-run procurement agency, the Algerian Office of Cereals (OAIC), the sole importer of wheat into Algeria.
“According to the trade press, Algeria has continued to bring in Russian wheat throughout the conflict in the Black Sea region, Russia could ship 2.5 million tonnes of wheat to Algeria by next June,” the FAS said.
Algeria’s ministry of Agriculture has not released detailed production information for the current season.
However, the FAS is maintaining its outlook for 2024-25 wheat production at 2.7 million tonnes and barley at 1 million tonnes. In 2022-23, Algeria produced an estimated 3.7 million tonnes of wheat and 1.4 million tonnes of barley.
The FAS does anticipate grain storage capacities to increase in 2024-25 to help secure sufficient supplies, though stocks might not rise immediately.
Ending stocks are projected to be 5.4 million tonnes in 2024-25, up from 5.3 million tonnes in the previous marketing year.
While presenting the action plan for 2024 in Parliament, Youcef Chorfa, Minister of Agriculture indicated that 350 local cereal storage centers will be built this year to increase storage capacities to 9 million tonnes, compared to 3.4 million tonnes currently.
According to FAS, construction of these facilities is expected to start in March and be completed within eight months.
In addition, the minister reported the rehabilitation of 16 storage centers, which will be operational in 18 months, as well as the construction of 30 silos at ports and centers. These facilities are designed for all wheat and barley storage, both imported and locally produced.
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