Year of publication 1999

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Author Trade and Markets Division

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Product type Book (stand-alone)

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Category Technical report

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Series title Special Reports and Alerts

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Edition 1

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Synopsis (short abstract) The worst drought in decades has severely reduced food output in several countries in the Near East, with particularly sharp falls in Jordan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq and Syria. Current estimates suggest that aggregate cereal output in the sub-region will amount to around 52.4 million tonnes this year (including rice in milled terms), some 10 million tonnes or 16 percent lower than in 1998 and 12 percent lower than the average over the last five years. In Turkey, which normally contrib utes approximately 50 percent of sub-regional grain production, output is expected to fall by over 2.7 million tonnes to around 26.9 million tonnes, some 9 percent lower than last year and 6 percent lower than the five year average. As Turkey is also the sub-region's main exporter, export availability from the country is also projected to decline appreciably, by around 50 percent, compared to the 4.1 million tonnes exported last year. For the sub-region as a whole, the volume of exports is antic ipated at around 2.4 million tonnes, compared to almost 5 million tonnes last year, a relative decline of 51 percent. In sharp contrast, to meet requirements, cereal imports into the Sub-region are expected to increase by over 3 million tonnes or 13 percent over last year. This inevitably will increase the cereal import bill significantly in a number of countries, putting further pressure on scarce foreign reserves, particularly in oil-producing countries which have experienced falling rev enues in recent years.

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Language English

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Also available in:

• French

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