Flour prices are continuing to rise in Tajikistan. Over the past two months, flour prices in Tajikistan have risen 20 percent, and current average price for a 50-kilogram sack of the 1st grade domestic wheat flour at Dushanbe’s bazaars is 350.00 somonis and current average price for a 50-kilogram sack of the 1st grade Kazakhstani wheat flour at Dushanbe’s bazaars is 370.00 somonis.
Meanwhile, current price for 10-kilogram package of the 1st grade domestic wheat flour at Dushanbe’s shops fluctuates from 75.00 somonis to 80.00 somonis.
As it had been reported earlier, an average price for a 50-kilogram sack of the 1st grade wheat flour at Dushanbe’s bazaars has doubles over the past seven years: from 160.00 somonis in 2015 to 320.00 somonis in the second part of March this year, with similar price rises in other parts of the country.
The Antimonopoly Agency under the Government of Tajikistan says the flour price hike in the country has resulted from the rising cost of wheat in Kazakhstan, which provides the bulk of Tajikistan and wheat and flour imports. In Kazakhstan, the price of one ton of wheat has risen to US$385.00.
Last year, the price for on ton of wheat in Kazakhstan was US$240.00, while in January this year, it already was US$285.00.
Meanwhile, Tajik flour producers say there also some other reasons behind surging flour prices in Tajikistan. According to them, among these reasons are rising gas prices, reduction of wheat stocks at warehouses, rise in the wheat prices around the world, the difficulty of growing wheat in Tajikistan due to high fuel prices and mineral fertilizers, inflation, and rising shipping costs.
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, cereals, primarily wheat, this year have been sown an area of more than 170,000 hectares. Last year, Tajik farmers reportedly harvested more than 1.5 million tons of wheat of different varieties, which is approximately 50 percent of Tajikistan’s annual requirements in wheat.
Recall, representatives of companies supplying wheat flour to Tajikistan said in late April that there are eight main reasons behind surging flour prices in the country: 1) wheat is getting more expensive all over the world; 2) fertilizers are in short supply; 3) the harvest is getting smaller; 4) traders raise prices, which is bad for everyone; 5) shipping costs have increased; 6) two-month wheat and wheat flour export quotas introduced by Kazakhstan from the period from April 15 to June 15; 7) consequences of the so-called “special military operation” launched by Russian in Ukraine on February 24 as Russia is the world's biggest exporter of wheat and Ukraine was the world's fourth-largest grain exporter in the 2020/21; and 8) currency exchange rate fluctuation and volatility of currency market in Tajikistan.
