ALGIERS- Algeria's spending on imports of cereals, semolina and flour rose 11.55 percent in 2018 from the previous year, official data showed on Sunday.
The North African country has been trying to cut imports of grains and other goods with the aim of reducing spending due to lower oil and gas revenue.
The value of imports for durum wheat, soft wheat, semolina and flour reached $3.1 billion last year, up from $2.77 billion in 2017, according to customs figures.
It gave no details on volumes.
Algeria, one of the world's biggest grain importers, increased its cereal output to 6 million tonnes in 2018 from 3.5 million tonnes in 2017.
Overall spending on food imports rose 1.6 percent to $8.573 billion in 2018 from $8.438 billion.
(Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed, editing by David Evans) ((hamid.ouldahmed@thomsonreuters.com;))
