DUSHANBE, November 26, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- In Tajikistan, wheat and wheat flour prices are expected to continue to increase, due to high prices in Kazakhstan and as demand increases as households deplete their own stocks and revert to market purchases to reconstitute their stocks, a monthly report for November 2012, Monitoring or Early Warning in Tajikistan , said.

The report notes that wheat flour prices continued to increase countrywide in September, reflecting high international prices, particularly in Kazakhstan and high transportation cost. Despite the government’s subsidized sales, on average, the price of first-grade wheat flour rose five percent in September.   On average, the prices of locally-produced, second-grade wheat flour rose 6 percent and wheat grain prices rose 4 percent.  Despite these increases, on average, wheat prices in last September were four to seven percent lower than 2011.

Compared to September wheat prices are continuing to rise in markets countrywide, including Dushanbe, Khujand and Qurghon Teppa, the report noted.

From early June to late October, wheat prices reportedly rose 33 percent in Dushanbe, 35 percent in Qurghon Teppa and 72 percent in Khujand.

In October, wheat flour prices increased sharply in Gharm (eastern Tajikistan) and Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), compared to prices in September and are now at the highest levels in recent history.  Current price for one kilogram of 1st grade wheat flour in these areas is 3.60 somoni.

Meanwhile, according to the data of the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, Tajikistan has imported some 290,000 tons of wheat flour and more than 600,000 tons of wheat over the first ten months of this year.  In October, Tajikistan imported more than 38,000 tons of wheat flour and 86,000 tons of wheat.

Kazakhstan now accounts for more than 90 percent of Tajikistan’s wheat and flour imports.

Tajikistan’s annual requirements in cereals are now 1.5 million tons.