Kingdom expects steady supply of wheat and barley this year

AMMAN — Kingdom is scheduled to receive 950,000 tonnes of wheat and barley shipments at Aqaba Port between April and September this year, Ibrahim Alhawamdeh, director of industry and trade in Aqaba, told The Jordan Times on Sunday.

In a phone interview, Alhawamdeh said that two of 15 ships have already arrived this month, one of which is from Romania, and each loaded with around 63,000 tonnes of wheat and barley.

Romania last Thursday banned the export of various agricultural food products, including wheat and barley, after declaring a state of emergency in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to international news outlets. Alhawamdeh said the shipment arrived last week as it had been sent, paid for and contracted before the ban.

Alhawamdeh reiterated that the basic commodities are readily available and stored goods are sufficient, noting that wholesale and retail merchants have enough to cover citizens’ needs.

On Monday, March 30th, His Majesty King Abdullah called for maintaining strategic food reserves in the Kingdom and ensuring all basic commodities are available to citizens, especially under the current extraordinary conditions.

During a visit to the grain silos in Irbid at the time, the King was briefed by Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Tareq Hammouri on Jordan’s strategic food reserves, which the minister said are sufficient, within safe levels and monitored on a daily basis.

Also at the time, the ministry said that available wheat and barley stocks are 1.833 million tonnes, covering the country's needs for more than one year.