Market Trends of Grains Industry in Tunisia
This section covers the major market trends shaping the Tunisia Grain Market according to our research experts:
Increased Domestic Production
Tunisia's agricultural sector is highly labor-intensive and uses very low levels of fertilizers and pesticides. Most of the farms are not highly mechanized, and plowing a field takes five times longer than in the United States. Most of the land is split into very small farms, making production much less efficient, with 80% of the farms being smaller than 20 hectares, and only 3% is larger than 50 hectares. Wheat, barley, and sorghum are the majorly produced grains in the Tunisian region. In 2018, 1500,000 metric ton of wheat, 762,377 ton of coarse grains, and 700,000 ton of barley was domestically produced in the region, which was a 35.83%, 42.97%, and 46.44% increase, respectively, in production when compared to 2017.
Rising Barley Imports for Beer Production
France, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Russia, Romania, Argentina, Finland, and Estonia are some of the major regions from where Tunisia imports barley. Beer continues to dominate the volume sales of alcoholic drinks in Tunisia, benefiting from a very high number of consumers. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 72% of Tunisians who consume alcoholic drinks prefer beer, making the locally produced global beers dominate the competitive landscape. The local manufacture of international beer brands is led by SONOBRA, which ranked second in terms of volume, in 2018. Hence, there is always a significant demand for barley, the main ingredient in the production of beer, which implies a growth factor for barley import in the region.
