Kazakh wheat flour imports declined after a lower than usual grain harvest in MY 2012/13. Pakistan and Kazakhstan are the leading suppliers of Afghanistan’s wheat and wheat flour imports.
Wheat and wheat flour prices in Afghanistan moved slightly higher with the increase in international wheat prices, but overall prices were stable in urban markets due to the above average domestic harvest in MY 2012/13.
Wheat consumption is expected to increase slightly – less than one per cent – based on increased availability of wheat and wheat flour in local markets.
Post estimates Afghanistan’s wheat stocks in MY 2013/14 will total 85,000 metric tons (MT), a six per cent increase from the previous marketing year due to donations from India to Afghanistan’s strategic grain reserves and Afghan government purchases of grain from small-scale local farmers. Wheat is the most important crop in Afghanistan, supplying over half of the population's caloric intake, but consumers are slowly increasing their consumption of rice.
Rice
Post forecasts Afghanistan’s MY 2013/14 rice production at 460,000 MT from a harvested area of 205,000 hectares, which is unchanged from the previous marketing year because of average weather conditions.
Pakistan will remain the dominant supplier of rice to Afghanistan as the country commands 95 per cent market share. Post estimates MY 2012/13 rice consumption at 620,000 metric tons, a two per cent increase from the previous marketing year reflecting increased consumer demand for rice in urban areas.
