Georgia virtually runs out of wheat

Stocks of wheat in Georgia are virtually exhausted, with the mills to stop working in the coming days, as the country has begun to actively import flour, head of the Grain and Flour Producers Association of Georgia Levan Silagava said in an interview with the Georgian news agency Interpressnews, Report informs citing TASS.

He added that according to the current Georgian legislation, the tax on flour imports is zero, and the tax on wheat is floating and makes $120 per ton as of May 13. The UN recommends that countries keep at least two months’ reserves of wheat, Silagava said.

Georgia consumes up to 650,000 tons of wheat per year. The republic provides itself only by 15%. The rest is imports, more than 90% of which comes from Russia. Otar Shamugia, minister of environment and agriculture of Georgia, said in April that the authorities plan to increase the amount of wheat grown from 15% to 50% of the total amount consumed in the coming years.