Tunisia will import 1.5 million tonnes of grain in 2013

Tunisia will import 1.5 million tonnes of grain this year, and current stocks are enough for another two months, Tunisia's state Grains Agency said on Monday. "Tunisia needs to import 1.5 million tonnes of soft, durum wheat and barley", director of supply Abd Essatar Fehri said. He said that Tunisia's current grain stocks were about 520,000 tonnes, of which 190,000 tonnes is durum, 200,000 tonnes soft wheat and 130,000 tonnes barley.
International tenders will be launched for the purchase of grain and it is likely to import from French, Italian and Spanish markets, he said. Tunisia produced some 2.2 million tonnes of grain in 2012. Tunisia, which has large areas of arid land, has to import much of the grain that its population of 11 million consumes. It imports mainly soft wheat and barley as it has a policy to allocate most of its fertile and irrigated land to growing durum wheat.