DUSHANBE, January 24, Asia-plus  -- “Rise in wheat rates on the world market will not affect domestic market in Tajikistan,” Taghoymurod Sharipov, deputy head of Tajik state grain company Ghalla, said in interview with Asia-Plus.   

According to him, at present there is no shortage of wheat and flour in Tajikistan because “there are necessary stocks of wheat and flour which will be enough until late spring.”  

“Enough amounts of flour and wheat were delivered to the country in 2007,” said Sharipov, “Thus, 282,733 tons of wheat and 511,287 tons of wheat flour were delivered to the country last year (in 2006, 276,300 tons of wheat and 376,000 tons of wheat flour were supplied to the country).”   

Kazakhstan, which provides the bulk of Tajikistan’s wheat and flour imports, accounts for 95 percent of the country’s grain product imports.    

Sharipov noted that after last November’s buying fever the flour prices had become stable in the country.  However, compared to 2006 the flour prices have nearly doubled, and at present an average price for a 50-kilogram sack of grade 1 flour is 105 somonis and an average price for a 50-kilogram sack of grade 2 flour is 90 somonis. 

In the meantime, Saidmurod Bahriddinov, Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Environmental, said that Tajikistan last year harvested 927,500 tons of grains. Tajikistan’s annual requirements in wheat are 1.2 million tons, while wheat production is sufficient to meet only 50 percent of the population’s requirements, the deputy minister said.   

“Last year, farmers planted wheat on the area of more than 308,000 hectare,” said Bahriddinov, “This year, we plan to increase areas under wheat to 340,000 hectares.”