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No grain shortage expected in Azerbaijan this year, Agriculture Minister says

05 July 2007 08:00 (UTC +04:00)

The Minister said that people should not worry about the grain shortage. Though the weather was unstable this year, 1.8-2mln. tonnes of grain is expected to be produced this year.
â€œ1.5mln. tonnes of it will be bread grain. We import bread grain from other countries every year. About 1.1mln. tonnes of bread grain was imported last year,â€ he said.
Commenting on rise of prices for grain and bread the Minister said that Agriculture Ministry does not regulates the prices. But Azerbaijani government will prevent rise of prices for this strategic product. The resources of Grain Terminal established with Kazakhstan in Hovsan will be used if necessary. The minister saying the concrete figures stated that there is enough grain reserve in the country today. The remains of bread-grain were 656 thousand tonnes in January 1. The country imported 590,612 tonnes bread-grain within 6 months of the year.
â€œTotally, it is 1 million 146 thousand 692 tonnes. Wheat use for per person is 180, in this case the annual demand of Azerbaijani population to wheat is 1 million 530 thousand tonnes, 6-month demand is 765 thousand tonnes. It means that we have 381,692 tonnes extra grain in the country today. That grain is established in various mills. Grain has been reaped in 340,835 hectares area till July 2 with the exception of maize and 884,469 tonnes harvest have been produced. Several entrepreneurs abusing the increase of corn in neighboring countries, wanted to sell dearly the corn they brought to the country before it. They have no ground to say that they have brought corn expensively. We will try not to increase the prices,â€ he said. /APA/