The value of wheat imports of Tunisia, main state wheat importer in North Africa, dropped 22.23 percent in the January-August period in 2004 from the same period a year ago, official figures showed on Wednesday.
The purchase from abroad of durum and soft wheat were at 157 million dinars ($126.7 million) for the first eight months from 201.9 million dinners in the same months in 2003, according to the figures.
Tunisia imported 609,400 tonnes of combined durum and soft wheat this year to end August, down from 941,800 tonnes of imported durum and soft wheat in the same period in 2003, the latest official figures on wheat imports showed.
Government officials said the decline in wheat imports was due to relatively good wheat crops in the latest two harvests. Tunisia's wheat yields vary sharply due to cyclical droughts. The country harvested 2.9 million tonnes of cereals in 2003 against about 0.5 million tonnes in 2002 which coincided with the fourth successive year of droughts.
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