Share of Russian Federation in wheat supplies to Azerbaijan has grown

Baku/05.10.22/Turan: The XII International Grain Trade Conference "Global Grain Outlook 2022" was held in Baku on the initiative of the Russian Grain Union, which brought together representatives from 9 countries and summed up the end of the harvest season.

The parties noted that over the past three years there have been disruptions in the grain supply chain in the world for one reason or another, and there is a need to coordinate efforts even more to overcome problems in ensuring food security.

As follows from the slides presented at the conference, in the Russian Federation, one of the world's largest grain-producing countries, the gross harvest of grain and leguminous crops in the 2021/22 season will amount to 121.4 million tons, but already in the 2022/23 season a rise in 152.2 million tons is planned.

For the period from October 2022 to March 2023, the Russian Federation plans to export from 51 million tons of cereals and legumes (a pessimistic forecast, but the level of 2020/21) up to 63 million tons (optimistic forecast), depending on the situation on the world market.

At the same time, the Russian Federation is the world's largest wheat exporter (it now accounts for 19%, but the largest figure was in the 2017/18 season — a share in the world was 23%), and in the 2021/22 season its supplies will amount to 12 million tons.

Worthy of note is the fact that traditionally it is Russia that leads as a supplier of wheat to Azerbaijan.

Thus, in 2020, it actually completely covered the deficit in wheat in Azerbaijan, and in 2021 its share as a supplier of this strategic commodity was 96%.

Azerbaijan's annual demand for wheat is about 1.2 million tons; however, local production covers just a quarter of these needs.

In 2022, grain sowing was carried out in Azerbaijan on 1,019,934 hectares, of which 606,338 hectares were sown for wheat, 413,596 hectares for barley.

As the head of the department of the Agency for the Development of Economic Zones of Azerbaijan, Amir Mammadov, explained, "Azerbaijan imports 1-1.1 million tons of wheat annually, but sees potential in the liberated lands."

Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Azerbaijan Elchin Zeynalov noted that currently Russia and Kazakhstan are the main partners of the country in covering the wheat shortage.

"At the same time, it is planned to raise the production of food wheat thanks to modern irrigation technologies and resource conservation. 

Also, from 2023, it is planned to provide subsidies for planting and harvesting to stimulate producers. In order to protect the interests of local producers, a minimum price for food wheat has been established. This mechanism will stimulate the production of high-quality seeds and the expansion of certified seeds through the introduction of new innovative technologies in grain growing," Zeynalov said.

The head of the Trade Committee of the Grain Union of Kazakhstan, Alexander Malov, said at the conference that Kazakhstan is interested in raising grain supplies to the markets of Azerbaijan and Turkey.

"We would like to return to the Azerbaijani market (where we were active until 2014-15). In this respect, a special work has been carried out since September. An additional option is Turkey. We guarantee high-quality indices," he noted Malov.

Among other wheat suppliers, Azerbaijan is considering Moldova, from which, from October 2022 to March 2023, it can receive 100.000 tons of wheat in exchange for the supply of fertilizers produced in Azerbaijan there.—0—