Ukraine crisis will not impact Algeria’s wheat imports -official tells Ennahar TV
[1/2] A scarecrow is seen at a wheat field in Tipaza, west of Algiers, Algeria June 3, 2015. Besides falling energy revenues, Algeria also has a growing number of mouths to feed, with the population put at 40 million and increasing by an estimated one million a year. Main foodstuffs, including cereals, sugar and milk are subsidised, but there is no such help for some products such as vegetables, which keeps prices high. Official statistics show the state imports on average five million tonnes of wheat and barley a year, but that figure appears to be climbing. It hit some 7.4 million in 2014. Algeria last year took its first steps towards opening up the farming sector to foreign investors, inviting bids for 16 state-owned farms focused on grains, vegetables, fruit trees and cattle breeding. Picture taken June 3, 2015. To match story ALGERIA-AGRICULTURE/ REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina
ALGIERS, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Algeria, one of the world's biggest importers of wheat, said on Saturday that the crisis in Ukraine will not impact its imports, an unnamed source from the state grains importer was quoted as saying by Ennahar TV on Saturday.
Algeria does not rely on one supplier but several as its market is open for competition, the source, from the Office Algerien Interprofessionnel des Cereales (OAIC), added.
Ukraine and Russia, which launched an invasion of its neighbour on Thursday, are both major grain exporters.
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