US raises forecast for Azerbaijan's grain imports

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has increased its forecast for Azerbaijan's grain imports in the 2020-2021 agricultural season, said the May issue of the report "Grain: World Markets and Trade".

The department raised Azerbaijan's grain import expectations by 250,000 tons from 1.350 million tons to 1.6 million tons compared to the previous forecast.

Thus, global production fell this month, including in Azerbaijan. However, grain consumption is growing, especially in Turkey and Ukraine. For this reason, Turkey has recently made large purchases from Russia, while Ukraine has reduced grain exports (the USDA expects Ukraine to reduce grain exports by 500,000 tons to 17 million tons this year).

This year, according to the USDA, grain imports to Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey will increase.

The forecast for grain imports from Turkey and Iran to the region was risen by 800,000 tons and 300,000 tons, respectively, to 9 million tons and 1.8 million tons. For Pakistan, the forecast was grown by 200,000 tons to 3.8 million tons.

In the first three months of this year, Azerbaijan imported 187.9 thousand tons of grain worth $ 47.75 million, 32% and 13.5% more, respectively, compared to the same period last year. During the reporting period, the share of wheat imports increased from 1.37% to 1.89%.