RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA — Coming off a year in which domestic wheat production nearly doubled to 1.18 million tonnes, Saudi Arabia is expecting similar output in the 2023-24 marketing year, according to a Global Agricultural Information Network report from the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).

“The main reason for this drastic increase in domestic wheat production is the high government purchasing price ($466 per tonne) offered to local farmers,” the FAS said, adding that “as long as government purchase prices remain high, domestic wheat production in projected to remain near 1.2 million tonnes.”

The General Food Security Authority (GFSA), an agency of the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, has a mandate to purchase up to 1.5 million tonnes of locally produced wheat annually, the report noted.

Wheat imports are also projected to increase in 2023-24 to 4.8 million tonnes, a 3% hike over the previous season, the same increase projected for the country’s wheat consumption, which is estimated at 4.5 million tonnes.

Conversely, Saudia Arabia’s barley imports are forecast to decrease by 28% to 3 million tonnes “due to significant reductions in the local livestock farming sector,” the FAS said.

Corn imports are seen rising by 33% in 2023-24 to 4.8 million tonnes because of expansions in the poultry production sector, the report said.