Dates’ harvest forecasts for this season predict a good crop estimated at about 220,000 tons, up 13% compared to the previous season.
According to Noureddine Aguerbi, managing director of agribusiness at the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining, this increase is due to good weather conditions.
On another level, Noureddine Aguerbi said half of the 2013 crop was sold on the local market, 10 thousand tons of which were stored for the month of Ramadan.
Referring to the causes of the unusual rise in prices of dates, he stated that it results from an imbalance between supply and demand, on the one hand, and the high cost of storage on the other.
