Algeria expects its grain harvest to reach 5.5 million tonnes this season due to better weather conditions, the official APS news agency quoted an agriculture ministry official as saying, a 31 percent rise on the previous campaign.

The head of the statistics department, Hocine Abdelghafour, said the harvest would be good thanks to sufficient rainfall in the past weeks and new equipment provided to farmers, APS reported.

APS also quoted Agriculture Minister Rachid Benaissa as saying durum output would "very good" this season. "The campaign will be very good in terms of durum wheat production, good for soft wheat and average for barley," APS quoted the minister as saying. - Reuters