FAO says global wheat production this year will be higher by 4.3 percent up to 690 million tones

YEREVAN, March 11. / ARKA /. Global wheat production this year will be higher by 4.3 percent up to 690 million tons than in 2012, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has predicted. AO’s crop Prospects and Food Situation report reflects that the 2013 wheat harvest is the second largest harvest on record and is expected to push up production worldwide. The increased harvest has been pushed up by increased planting in most parts of the world owing to high wheat prices and a recovery in yields in some countries. 

According to the report, Europe and the Russian Federation will experience higher wheat production at large. United States however will experience slightly lower wheat production than the two because of earlier drought conditions, though the records show an improvement in production in the last two weeks.

As for Armenia, according to its Customs Service, 91.6% of the total volume of wheat last year was imported from the Russian Federation. The volume of imports of Russian wheat in absolute terms amounted to about 438 thousand tons compared to 190 thousand tons in 2011.

According to the National Statistics Service, Armenia consumes annually 650-720 thousand tons of wheat, of which 435-450 thousand tons for food needs. Local production in the last five years was   between 380-420 thousand tons. -0-