Algeria's expenditure on imports of milk and dairy products amounted to $344.34 million during the first half of 2005 compared to $318.53 million in the equivalent period of 2004, reported the Algerian newspaper, Al-Khabar on Monday (August 8). In terms of quantity, Algeria imported 129,750 tons of milk and its products during the first half of 2005, compared to 344,343 tons in 2004. Most of these imports were composed of milk powder.
Algeria is considered among the largest milk consuming countries in the Arab Maghreb, since the demand for milk is estimated by more than 3 billion liters annually, i.e. more than 100 liters per capita each year. Local production covers less than 50% of the market needs.
So far, governmental efforts to privatize this sector failed and meeting the target of raising milk production to 5 billion liters annually is still far away.
