JEDDAH: Yemen's grain imports are expected to decline 11.7 percent in 2010, a report said Saturday, further straining the country's food production, which has already been hit by shrinking harvests and low groundwater. Yemen grain imports for 2010 are estimated to fall 441,000 metric tons to 3,321,000 metric tons, compared with 3,762,000 metric tons last year, Saudi state news agency SPA said, citing a report by Yemen's Directorate General for Trade and Agricultural Marketing. The report also forecast the value of grain imported in 2010 will decline to around $1.1 billion. A rally in global wheat prices, drought and wild fires in Russia this year have put pressure on the Middle East's wheat importers, a report said. One in three of Yemen's 23 million people struggle with food insecurity, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). More will go hungry in future, with the population growing at 3 percent a year and water running out.
