Azerbaijan has increased wheat imports at a lower price

Azerbaijan has increased its wheat imports. According to the State Customs Committee, 86,654 tons of wheat worth $18.6 million were imported in January, which is 23.5% more in quantity and 14.8% more in value compared to the same period in 2024.

According to the State Statistics Committee, the average price of a ton of food wheat imported to Azerbaijan in January was 387.80 manat, while in December last year it was 402.81 manat, that is, the grain fell in price by 3.7% in monthly comparison.

It should be noted that in 2024, Azerbaijan imported 1.3 million tons of wheat worth $279.6 million. Compared to 2023, this figure is 9.9% more in quantity and 8% less in value. Thus, last year, Azerbaijan imported wheat relatively inexpensively.

Last year, Azerbaijan mainly imported wheat from Russia – this country accounted for 90.2% of all imports. Supplies also came from Kazakhstan.

At the same time, according to the State Statistics Committee, in 2024, the country produced 1.6 million tons of grain and leguminous crops. The wheat yield was 30.9 centners per hectare.

Self-sufficiency in wheat has increased to approximately 58%

Recall that last year, at the conference “Sustainable Food Security in the Context of Climate Change” held in Baku, the Minister of Agriculture Majnun Mammadov stated that in 1991, Azerbaijan produced 1 million 346.4 thousand tons of grain, including 889.4 thousand tons of wheat, and in 2023 – 3 million 248.6 thousand tons (2.4 times more) of grain, including 1 million 833.9 thousand tons of wheat (2.1 times more).

“If during the USSR period Azerbaijan provided itself with wheat by about 30%, now this figure has grown to almost 58%. The potential formed in recent years in the field of agriculture, in particular, through public-private partnership and the use of modern technologies, the creation of large grain farms, as well as the liberation of our lands have created new opportunities for further increasing the level of self-sufficiency of the country in wheat,” said Mamedov.

But at the same time, the minister told the media that a complete cessation of wheat imports is impossible, since the production of agricultural products in each country depends primarily on natural resources and climatic conditions.

As the head of the Ministry of Agriculture noted, the business model of grain growing existing in the post-Soviet region, for example, in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, as well as in the USA, Canada, Australia, Argentina is almost the same: large areas, low added value per hectare and thousands of hectares of crops per producer. Unfortunately, due to its geography, Azerbaijan cannot boast of large areas for grain, nor the level of land concentration among individual farmers or even agro-parks.

“Although we do not have the necessary natural resources to bring wheat production volumes to a level that meets our needs, we are trying to maximize local production volumes in order to minimize imports,” the minister emphasized.

It should be added that Azerbaijan subsidizes the production of food wheat. This subsidy applies to food wheat produced by individuals who have undertaken to produce it on farms that use modern irrigation systems and, in accordance with an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture, supplied to the State Resources Agency and flour mills. For each ton of food wheat, producers are paid a subsidy of 100 manats.

Tags: wheat, Azerbaijan