ABU DHABI: Syria plans to import 1 million tons of wheat as loss of government control over large swaths of farmland and a poor harvest has cut domestic purchases by half, a source at the state’s General Organization for Cereal Processing and Trade (Hoboob) told Reuters. “We are still studying the mode of imports, whether it will be tenders or direct contracts, and we will take a decision about that shortly,” said the source, who asked not to be named.
He said the government had enough wheat to satisfy consumption until mid-2015 from previous imports and its local harvest, and that the imports of 1 million tons were necessary to boost its strategic reserve, he said.
He declined to say how much wheat was currently in the strategic reserve. Before the war, Syria kept an annual strategic stock of around 3 million tons.
Before the war, Syria produced around 3.5 million tons of wheat a year on average, of which the government bought about 2.5 million.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates Syria’s annual wheat consumption at 2.7-3.0 million tons.
