KABUL: Afghanistan will buy 200,000 tons of wheat from neighbouring Turkmenistan at a price of under $250 per tons and is aiming to acquire another 600,000 tons from Kazakhstan, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said here the other day.
Afghanistan, which depends heavily on imported cereals, is expected to import 2.1 million tons of wheat in the 2015/16 season, according to data from the United Nations Food andAgriculture Organisation.
Its main suppliers have traditionally been Pakistan and Kazakhstan but the government announced in October that it would also seek to buy from Turkmenistan.
“We had a comprehensive discussion with Turkmenistan and the result of that discussion is that we will have at least 200,000 tons of wheat at less than $250 per ton,” Ghani told a news conference in Kabul.
He made the comments following a trip to Turkmenistan to inaugurate the new TAPI gas pipeline.
