According to Mamed Huseynov, deputy chief of the department of regulation of state food reserves and food security of the Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan, the embargo on wheat export imposed by Kazakhstan will not influence prices on grain in Azerbaijan, Day.az reported on April 16.  Huseynov said the country has sufficient reserves: "This year Azerbaijan purchased 250,000 tons of grain and last year 950,000 tons.”

Trend news agency reported the same day that the amount will be enough to meet the demand for five months if necessary. According to Sabir Valiyev, the head of the department for production and processing of crops and state control on food reserves of the Ministry of Agriculture, the demand will be met by the home-produced wheat if current wheat reserves are exhausted. The Ministry of Agriculture representative also said that if necessary, the government can begin talks about purchasing wheat with other countries, including Ukraine and Canada.

The government of Kazakhstan imposed a ban on all wheat export until September 1, 2008. The four-month ban was enacted to protect Kazakhstan’s domestic market amidst rising grain prices on the world market, the news sources reported.  Kazakhstan is the largest wheat producer in Central Asia; 20 million tons of the grain was harvested in the country in 2007.

This information was originally published on April 16, 2008. (www.day.az, www.trend.az)