The spending of Algeria on cereal, semolina and flour imports increased 5.1 percent in the first half of 2017 compared with the last year, official figures showed on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
The imports bill for durum wheat, soft wheat, semolina and flour reached $1.47 billion in the first six months of 2017, up from $1.39 billion in the same period last year, according to customs figures.
Algeria’s cereal crop dropped to 3.3 million tonnes in 2016 from 4 million tonnes the previous year.
Overall bill for food imports rose to $4.44 billion in the January-June period of 2017 from $4.05 billion a year earlier.
Milk imports rose 54.2 percent, while purchases of meat and dried vegetables were up 12.2 percent and 8.35 percent respectively, the customs data showed.
