Further increase in imports in first 5 months of 2014 in Algeria

Wheat imports reached, during the first five months of the year, USD 970.66 million against 911.48 million, i.e. an increase of  6.47%, Algerian customs said.  
Quantities of imported wheat (soft and hard) totaled 3.004 tons against 2.447tons during the same period of comparison, also up to 22.7%, according to the National Centre for Informatics and Statistics of Customs.
Imports of durum wheat reached 278.85 million for a quantity estimated at 715,660 tones, i.e. an increase of 35% in value while those of wheat  exceeded, in turn, 2.28 million tons for USD 691.81 million, i.e. a slight decrease in value (1.86%), specifies the CNIS.
Algerian imports of cereals (wheat, barley and maize) during the first five months of 2014 are estimated at USD 1.44 billion against USD 1.32 billion in the same period of last year, i.e. an increase of 9.04% in value, according to the CNIS.
Despite this slight decline, imports of wheat still continue to burden the cereal import bill of the country during the first five months in 2014.
Therefore, the government decided to support farmers to create new irrigated areas so as to increase grain production.