Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Aug.19
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
Dur to increase in demand for high-quality flour, Uzbekistan will increase the imports of wheat up to 2.1 million tonnes in the season 2014-2015 versus 1.95 million tonnes on the results of the last season, the report of Foreign Agricultural Service at USDA (FAS USDA) said.
According to forecasts of FAS USDA, domestic consumption of wheat in the current season in Uzbekistan will grow by seven percent - to 8.65 million tonnes, some 1.95 million tonnes of wheat (a 16 percent increase) will be used for forage purposes.
Flour import will make 1.3 million tonnes of flour versus nearly one million tonnes in the previous season.
In the season 2014-2015 Uzbekistan can reduce wheat exports of low quality to 400,000 tonnes against 500,000 tonnes in the 2013-2014 season, FAS USDA predicts.
This year in Uzbekistan some 8.05 million tons of grain have been harvested, which is a 270,000 tonnes more than in 2013.
In Uzbekistan, with a population of 30 million people, the domestic need of the wheat is more than four million tonnes, or five million tonnes with the reserves.
Due to the climatic conditions in Uzbekistan hard wheat required for bakery, confectionery and pasta cannot be grown, and the need for this kind of products is covered by imports.
During the past few years Uzbekistan adopted a number of measures aimed at increasing of the production of flour. However, Uzbekistan remains a major importer of wheat flour. Many private bakeries prefer to use high quality Kazakh wheat flour as a raw material, the USDA report says.
In late July some 17 names of "biological objects" including the seeds of hard and soft wheat, barley, oats, maize, rice and cotton were forbidden to export from the country by the order of the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources of Uzbekistan.
Purchase and storage of grain for state needs, provision of economic sectors and population by high quality varieties of flour, cereals, animal feed as well as bread, pasta and confectionery within the Republic is implemented by "Uzdonmahsulot" JSC. The company consists of 48 mills.