Commodity Online
RIYADH : Saudi Arabia on Monday said it will import up to 800,000 tones of milling wheat in the year to September 2009 as it seeks to build up stocks while scaling back domestic wheat farming.

In a statement issued here, Saudi Arabia’s state-controlled Grain Silos and Flour Mills Organization (GSFMO) said it plans to issue a tender in April or May for the purchase of 200,000-300,000 tones of milling wheat after it tendered last week to buy 500,000 tones of milling wheat.

Saudi Arabia, previously self-sufficient in wheat, announced early this year it would start importing supplies and scale back domestic production to save precious water reserves.

The country will reduce purchases of wheat from local farmers by 12.5 percent per year from this year, abandoning a 30-year programme to grow wheat which achieved self-sufficiency but depleted the desert kingdom’s scarce water supplies.