Syrian Farmers Reject Government Wheat Price of $330 per Tonne

Syria's government has set a purchase price of 46,000 new Syrian pounds per tonne of hard wheat in bags, equivalent to about $330, for the 2025 harvest season. Farmers in the northern and eastern wheat-growing regions — Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, Hasaka, and Aleppo — have rejected the figure as too low to be profitable.

"This price does not even cover production costs," said one farmer from the region, citing high costs of fuel and fertilizers as the main drivers of the shortfall. The previous season's government purchase price was $320 per tonne for hard wheat and $300 for soft wheat.

Favorable rainfall across the main growing areas is expected to push this season's harvest above 2 million tonnes — a significant recovery from production during the conflict years, when output fell below 1 million tonnes annually. Before 2011, Syria produced over 4 million tonnes of wheat per year.

This is the first season since 2013 in which the central government controls nearly all of the country's wheat production volumes. Analysts warn that pricing below the cost of production could discourage farmers from planting wheat in subsequent seasons, worsening the country's food security position over the medium term.