Azerbaijan, Baku, 3 May / Trend corr S. Babayeva/ "About 70% of Azerbaijan's grain demand is met through domestic production," Ismat Abasov, Azerbaijani Agricultural Minister, said to journalists on 3 May.
"Now we cannot completely meet country's grain demand," he said.
Abbasov said that this year grain production will rise by 300-350,000 tons through expansion of sown area by 120,000 hectares. " Azerbaijan's grain reserve totalled 500,000 tons by May," he said.
This year Azerbaijan is expected to produce 2.3mln tons of wheat. Country's annual grain demand is 3mln tons, with 1.5mln tons of them being bread-grain. In April, Kazakhstan banned grain export until September in order to protect its domestic market from high prices. Azerbaijan partially imports grain from Kazakhstan, so the ban resulted in hike in prices for flour and bread in the country.
