Flour mills in Baku and Sumgayit are buying local wheat this season for no more than 330 manats per ton. Many enterprises have stopped harvesting wheat altogether,” Jahid Narimanov, a wheat reseller from Beylagan region, told Turan. This process is taking place in terms of the announcement by the government of new purchase prices for food grain for the State Grain Fund (SGF). According to J. Narimanov, grain harvesting is being intensively carried out, and farmers are now selling wheat for no less than 300 manats per 1 ton. Therefore, the delivery of products from the fields to processing enterprises at current prices is not profitable. As of the beginning of July last year, flour mills bought local wheat at a price of 530 manats/ton. Thus, as compared to the last year, prices for local food wheat declined by an average of 40%. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, as of June 22, 366.000 tons of wheat were harvested from the fields. In January-May this year, 450.100 tons of wheat were imported with a total declared value of $134.9 million. By the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of June 21, the purchase price of wheat for the State Grain Fund is set at 450 manats/ton. This is down by 130 manats from 2022. However, this price is much higher than the market one. Turan News Agency appealed to the State Reserbes Agency of Azerbaijan (SRAA) with a question about the harvesting of local wheat. However, the department found no responsible person to answer the request. In the agency’s Internet resource https://dea.gov.az/ru there is no information about the progress in wheat harvesting. It should be recalled that the SGF has been set in 2009 and operates under the SRAA. Its reserves can reach up to 750.000 tons of wheat. Fixed reserves of the Fund are a state secret. Also, the Fund does not provide financial statements.

Source: Turan News Agency