Top 10 African Wheat Importers

According to reports, grains, of which wheat is a significant component, are the most imported agricultural product in Africa. Meanwhile, due to excellent agro-climatic conditions, nations in East Africa including Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zambia have the potential to produce wheat locally.

The majority of African nations imported their wheat from Russia and Ukraine. For instance, the majority of the wheat imported by Egypt, the top buyer of wheat in both Africa and the globe, comes from Russia (60 Pct) and Ukraine (22 Pct).

In 2020, the entire continent of Africa purchased Russian wheat worth more than 3.5 billion dollars. France exported wheat worth almost 2.2 billion dollars to Africa, while Ukraine exported wheat worth roughly 1.5 billion dollars.

A report by Statista on the volume of wheat imports into Africa from 2017 to 2022 reveals that the continent imported about 54.8 million metric tons of wheat during the trading year 2020–2021 and that this number may rise to more than 55 million metric tons during the following year. In 2020–2021, almost 26.6 million metric tons of imported wheat made it to Sub-Saharan Africa, whereas more than 28.2 million metric tons went to North Africa.

Egypt imported the most wheat, wheat flour, and wheat products during that period at 12 million metric tons.

Africa produced over 25.7 million metric tons of wheat in the same year, again according to Statista. The report predicts that production could rise to 30.5 million metric tons the following year. More than 60 Pct of African wheat is produced in North Africa. In addition, according to a number of sources, Ethiopia, South Africa, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Zambia are the continent’s top producers of wheat, in decreasing order.

The Covid-19 outbreak and the Ukraine crisis, according to our second source, Nation, have shown that the instability of the global commodities market significantly affects nations like Ethiopia. Two years ago, Ethiopia started an initiative to increase wheat yield. East Africa as a whole will be 90 Pct dependent on imports of wheat in 2020, with Russia and Ukraine providing the majority.

Additionally, according to several statistics, Ethiopia managed to produce 16.2 million quintals of irrigated wheat over 405,000 hectares of land in the most recent fiscal year alone. EBR