Algeria, one of the world's largest grain importers, saw fire destroy 6,394 hectares of its cereals area this month, the official news agency APS reported on Monday. Fires caused by high summer temperatures had hit 3,602 hectares of wheat and 2,792 hectares of barley in the north African country since June 1, APS said, citing emergency services.
The country has more than 3.1 million hectares devoted to cereal crops, an Economist Intelligence Unit reference book shows, citing 2002 figures. Algeria purchases around 5 million tonnes of cereals per year, spending around $1 billion annually to fill shortfalls in production.
Official government figures on cereals consumption are secret, but experts estimate it at about nine million tonnes. The government said earlier this month it expected a cereals harvest of 4.8 million tonnes in 2007 against 4.0 million last year. It said Algeria needed to import 2.5 million tonnes of soft wheat and 2.6 million of durum wheat in the 2007/08 season.