DUSHANBE, November 23, 2014, Asia-Plus — According to the monthly report for November 2014,
Monitoring and Early Warning in Tajikistan
, aggregate cereal production in 2014 is estimated to decrease. Harvesting of winter crops (mainly wheat and barley) was completed by mid-August, while that of spring crops (mainly maize and rice) continued until the end of September.
FAO’s latest estimate puts the 2014 wheat production at 740 000 tons, 4 percent below last year’s near-average level.
The 2014 aggregate cereal output is estimated at 1.1 million tons, 3 percent down from last year’s good level.
Planting of winter cereal crops started in mid-August under generally favorable weather conditions and continued until mid-November. Wheat imports in the 2014/15 marketing year are forecast to increase slightly.
The country depends heavily on cereal imports, mainly wheat, which accounts for almost 98 percent of total cereal import requirements. Wheat imports in the 2014/15 marketing year (July/June) are reportedly forecast at 1.06 million tons, 4 percent above last year’s near-average level. Wheat and barley are mainly imported from Kazakhstan.
Prices of wheat flour were stable in October and close to their year-earlier levels.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, this year grain was planted on 309,738 hectares (ha) of land. The wheat sown area this year was 214,881 ha.
