Saudi Arabia’s total cereal imports will stand at 6.9 million tons during the 2000/1 agricultural marketing year, running from July 2000 to June 2001, according to the American foreign agricultural service estimates.
USDA expects local wheat production in the agricultural season 2000/01 to remain at 1.8 million ton, just enough to meet annual domestic consumption as devised by government policy.
This year’s barley output is not expected to exceed 200,000 tons, well below the government one-million ton production quota, which is subsidized at $267 per ton.
Demand for barley imports on the part of livestock farmers is likely to fall this year, as satisfactory rainfall improved pasture. For the 2000/01 season, barley imports are expected to decline to five million tons, as compared to the previous season when animal feed barley imports stood at 5.57 million tons.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest importer of barley, accounting for nearly one-third of the world barley trade. Nearly 85 percent of the barley is imported from the EU, followed by Australia, Canada, the US, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria.
The kingdom’s major agricultural product is wheat and barley, followed by tomatoes, melons, dates, citrus, mutton, chickens, eggs, milk. — (Mena Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
