Tunisia's wheat imports rose 34 percent in the first two months of the year as local manufacturers bought more durum wheat for re-export as pasta, government figures showed on Wednesday. The North African country's wheat imports grew to 336,000 tonnes from 251,700 tonnes in January-February 2006.
Durum wheat imports more than doubled to 133,200 tonnes from 49,300 tonnes, and soft wheat purchases were unchanged at 202,800 tonnes. The value of combined wheat imports grew to 107 million dinars ($83.59 million) from 54 million dinars as world market prices soared. Tunisia used to import about 400,000 tonnes of durum wheat but slashed the amount it buys in for domestic consumption to zero between 2003 and 2005 as it boosted local production.
Local food manufacturers still import durum wheat for re-export as pasta and other products to some African countries. "There is increasing demand for durum wheat as the business of processing into pasta for export is growing," said Abdelkader Amara, head of arable crops at Tunisia's farmers union. Tunisia wheat purchases in 2006 were at 1.4 million tonnes, up 25 percent from the previous year due to drop in the country's harvest.