YEMEN (1 May)
Planting of the main sorghum and millet crops, to be harvested towards the end of the year, has started. The output from the 2003 sorghum crop is estimated at some 213 000 tonnes, about 26 percent lower than the previous year and nearly 44 percent below the average of the previous five years. Output from the wheat crop also decreased to 104 000 tonnes. Maize production estimated at 33 000 tonnes was 19 percent and 34 percent less than in 2002 and the average respectively. Imports of cereals in 2004, mainly wheat, are estimated at about 2.7 million tonnes, an increase of some 7 percent compared with 2003.