Reference Date: 09-June-2023

Overall favourable production prospects for 2023 cereals

Planting of the 2023 winter cereal crops, mainly wheat, to be harvested from June, took place in November and December 2022. Precipitation amounts during the season have been overall adequate and favourable production prospects are forecast for the 2023 winter cereal harvest.

According to the State Committee of Statistics of Azerbaijan, plantings of the 2023 spring cereals began in early March under overall favourable weather conditions.

Near‑average cereal production obtained in 2022

Harvesting of the 2022 cereal crops finalized last August and the output is estimated at about 3.1 million tonnes, near the five‑year average level. Despite the large plantings, 2022 output of wheat is officially set at 1.9 million tonnes, slightly below the average level as yields have been affected by below‑average rainfall amounts during the season. Barley output is estimated at about 950 000 tonnes, 4 percent below average and 17 percent below the previous year’s bumper output.

Wheat import requirements in 2022/23 forecast at near‑average level

In the 2022/23 marketing year (July/June), total cereal import requirements are forecast at 1.3 million tonnes, near the average volume. As a result, wheat import requirements, which account on average for more than 90 percent of the total cereal imports, are forecast at an average level.

Retail prices of wheat higher year‑on‑year

Retail prices of wheat flour increased steadily between July 2022 and March 2023 (latest available data), following seasonal trends. Last March, prices of imported wheat flour were near their levels of a year earlier, while prices of locally produced flour were 16 percent higher, reflecting market uncertainty as well as the high costs of agricultural inputs and transports.

Prices of potatoes, another important staple in the country, increased sharply between September 2022 and March 2023, due to increased fertilizer costs and reduced stocks.

Disclaimer: The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of FAO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

This brief was prepared using the following data/tools:
FAO/GIEWS Country Cereal Balance Sheet (CCBS) https://www.fao.org/giews/data-tools/en/ .

FAO/GIEWS Food Price Monitoring and Analysis (FPMA) Tool https://fpma.fao.org/ .

FAO/GIEWS Earth Observation for Crop Monitoring https://www.fao.org/giews/earthobservation/ .

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) https://www.ipcinfo.org/ .