Wheat imports by Tunisia, one of North Africa's leading grain buyers, rose 71 percent to 402,200 tonnes in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, official figures showed on Monday.
The country's durum wheat purchases were 126,300 tonnes, up from 13,800 in the January-March period last year, and soft wheat totalled 275,900 tonnes, up from 222,000.
The value of combined imported wheat jumped to 87.80 million dinars ($67.28 million) from 48.70 million.
Officials say Tunisia has become self-sufficient in durum wheat but private traders have been importing the commodity for processing into pasta for other markets in Africa. But the country needs to import at least 600,000 tonnes of soft wheat to feed its 10 million's population even with a big domestic harvest, they added.
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