March 15, 2013

Azerbaijan may halt grain import in 2013

As the country's annual demand for grain is three million tonnes, of which 2.8 million tonnes are provided by domestic production, Azerbaijan is considering a possibility of refusal of grain import in 2013.

"Kazakhstan's refusal from grain export (this country is currently the only supplier of grain to Azerbaijan) will not affect Azerbaijan. Currently seeding work is under way, and we hope to cover grain needs at the expense of domestic production. Even if we are not able to get necessary level of harvest, then we have earlier imported 200-300,000 tonnes of grain reserves," Deputy Agriculture Minister Bahram Aliyev said.

In addition, the country has the State Grain Fund with up to 500,000 tonnes of grain, according to ABC.az.