Syria will probably buy less than one million tonnes of wheat in the local market this year. Due to low rainfall, the wheat harvest in 2018 will probably yield only about one million tonnes of wheat. This is a sharp decline compared to 2017, when the government estimated the harvest to be 2.17 million tons of wheat, while the United Nations estimated 1.8 million tons. The government buys locally produced wheat through 35 so-called government buying centers. The season starts this week and is expected to end in late August. The Government of Damascus subsidizes bread for the areas it controls and needs about 1-1.5 million tonnes a year to feed it. The country, which usually provides itself with wheat as part of a state-subsidized policy, has been suffering from drastically lower production since the conflict began over several years. In good years, Syria produced 4 million tons of wheat and was able to export 1.5 million tons. The decline in production forces the government of Bashar al-Assad to import grain. Wheat imports are made by the state-owned purchasing company Hoboob. In February, a tender for the purchase of 300.000 tonnes of wheat canceled due to high price demands.
