The Ministry of Agriculture to import 130.000 tons of tomatoes and 7 tons of meat in Ramadan

Agriculture goods and derivatives will be available in large quantities during the holy month of Ramadan, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said here on Tuesday.

General Manager of controlling and developing the agricultural production at the Ministry Youçef Rejam Khoudja said at the national radio that the goods mostly demanded during Ramadan will be available in large quantities, especially seasonal products like tomatoes; therefore the Ministry will import 130.000 tons to Algeria, 84.000 tons of zucchini, 11.000 tons of beans and 26.000 tons of salad.

“The Algerian market will also notice large quantities of imported and stored meat to ensure price stability and to respond to the demand. In addition to the national production of meat, 4.000 tons of lamb frozen meat will be imported in order to be sold in the local market with the price of 600 DA per kilogram and will be distributed at 300 points of sale across 40 cities, noting that the sector noticed the import of over 22.000 tons of meat since January 2011 by public and private dealers”, he added.

“Algerian dealers also imported more than 14.000 calves directed for butcheries, providing 3.000 tons of fresh meat. A stock of white meat reaches 10.000 tons in anticipation to Ramadan, twice the amount of last year. The price of white frozen local meat is fixed at 250 DA across 186 points of sale at the national level”.

“Shares of the powder milk during Ramadan will be raised to 15%, encouraging the production of pasteurized milk in bags to 5.2 million liters/day compared to 4.5 liters/day in the past years. Shares of the cereals and owners of semolina and flour factories will increase to 10%, noting that the 152 factories across the country produce 110.000 quintals of meal a day, while 160.000 quintals per day of flour are directed for making bread”.