Reuters
November 5
zbekistan this year has harvested 3.917 million tonnes of grain, up from last year's 3.745 million tonnes, but below the official target of 4.3 million tonnes, a government official said on Monday.
The official from the macroeconomics and statistics ministry told Reuters that wheat made up 95 percent of the ex-Soviet state's grain crop this year, with rye and barley accounting for the rest. The harvest is now complete.
Traders say the country of 25 million consumes 4.5 million tonnes of wheat a year.
It was not immediately clear where the government planned to purchase wheat this year to bridge the gap between output and consumption.
Uzbekistan had originally forecast a harvest of 4.7 million tonnes this year but was forced to lower the target after being hit by a heat wave for the second year in a row.