Gov’t announces bids for 240,000 tonnes of barley, wheat

AMMAN — Jordan has floated bids to purchase 240,000 tonnes of barley and wheat in order to enhance its grain reserves, according to an official source.

The government has announced a bid to purchase 120,000 tonnes of barley. The deadline for the offer is March 15, according to the official source at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply.

The proposed shipments of both barley and wheat is for August and September of this year, the source said.

The government also issued a bid to purchase 120,000 tonnes of wheat, and the deadline for the offer is March 14, according to the source.

“We are very keen to keep our reserves of wheat and barley for a very long period of time. Currently, the wheat reserve is enough for more than 12 months. We also have projects to increase our capacity of storage of wheat and barley,” the official said.

Last week, Jordan purchased 60,000 tonnes of wheat for the first half of August. The Kingdom also bought 50,000 tonnes of barley for June of this year, the source added.

Jordan imports about 95 per cent of its wheat and barley from international markets, as domestic production does not exceed 5 per cent of the country’s needs.

According to the Trade Ministry, Jordan consumes 80,000 tonnes of wheat and 60,000 tonnes of barley each month.