According to customs statistics, in the first half of 2016 Algeria increased its imports of basic grains by 8.6% compared to the same period of the previous year to 7.53 million tons, particularly due to the significant growth of purchases of soft wheat, barley and maize, according to Reuters.

Thus, the import of soft wheat in the country in January-June 2016 has increased by 6.1% to 3.62 million tonnes, solid - on 2,06%, to 0.99 million tons.

The supply of corn for the first 6 months of 2016 increased by 7.8% to 2.3 million tons, barley - of 50.65%, to 0.62 million tons.

The total cost of cereal imports for the period decreased by 17.75% to $1.56 billion amid lower prices for grains on the world market.

We will remind that earlier Algeria declared the desire to reduce the cost of cereal imports due to the significant drop in world oil prices, which led to a substantial reduction of state budget revenues.