Soft wheat: Sanctions against "dishonest" processors

Soft wheat: Sanctions against "dishonest" processors

ALGIERS- General Director of the Algerian Inter-professional Cereals Office (OAIC) Noureddine Kehal said Tuesday that action against "dishonest", processors, who sell wheat subsidized by the state in the informal market, will be taken. Speaking on National Radio, Kehal cited among such measures "the exclusion of the processor from monthly quota (supplied by the OAIC) for the unit." The official added that there would "definitely" be other measures such as "penal sanctions" which will be taken against those millers who cheated with their quotas. The price of one quintal of barley soared due to drought that affected the agro-pastoral areas where sheep farming is concentrated, which has led some processors "tempted by the easy profit to divert a portion of soft wheat for the consumption to supply the informal market of feed for livestock," Kehal said. This behaviour was the cause of the tensions experienced in supply by flour for bakers, a situation that prompted the office to implement inter-professional agreements.