ALGERIA (7 October)
The harvesting of the winter grain crops, mainly wheat and barley, is virtually over. Delayed plantings due to a late start of the rainy season resulted in sharply reduced output. Aggregate 2005 cereal production is estimated at about 2.5 million tonnes, some 36 percent lower than the bumper 2004 output and slightly below the average for the previous five years. Production of wheat is currently estimated at 1.8 million tonnes, about 800 000 tonnes less than last year while barley output, estimated at some 0.7 million tonnes, was only half of last year’s above-average outturn.
Wheat imports for the marketing year 2005/06 (July/June) are expected to increase over last year’s volume of 4.5 million tonnes to some 5 million tonnes, reflecting the decrease in production.