ALGIRS: The import bill of milk fell to US$477 million during the first seven months of 2016 against US$707.5 million during the same period in 2015, down by 32.58%, said the Algerian Customs. The imported quantities of this product (milk powder, milk cream and milk fat) dropped to reach 201,134 tonnes against 236,399 tonnes, down by nearly 15% between the two periods of comparison, according to the National Office of Data Processing and Statistics of the Algerian Customs.
The decline in milk import bill wasn’t only due to the drop in imported quantities but also to the drop in import prices. During the first five months of 2016, Algeria’s average import price for milk powder amounted to US$2,425/tonne against US$2,962/tonne during the same period in 2015 (-18.1%).
As a reminder, the import bill of powder milk, milk cream and milk fat dropped to US$1.04 billion in 2015 against US$1.91 billion in 2014, for quantities of 372,252.4 tonnes against 395,898.2 tonnes. In order to reduce imports of this subsidized product and boost the milk sector, measures were taken by the government in favour of breeders and the operators of this sector by increasing the subsidy of untreated milk and encouraging the investment so that to cut milk powder imports by half by 2019.
