AZERBAIJAN (3 June)
Latest reports point to favourable growing conditions both for winter and spring crops. Aggregate cereal harvest, highly dependent on weather, is tentatively forecast at a recorded 2.2 million tonnes, some 415 000 tonnes up on the average of the last five years. This aggregate includes some 1.8 million tonnes of wheat, 232 000 tonnes of barley and some 150 000 tonnes of maize. Aggregate import requirement for the 2005/06 marketing year is forecast at about 1.15 million tonnes of mainly food quality wheat.