Syria is expected to buy less than one million tonnes of local wheat from farmers in the 2018 season because of poor rainfall. The agriculture ministry expects production of one million tonnes this year, a sharp drop from 2017. Syria had put the 2017 crop at 2.17 million tonnes while United Nations agencies estimated it at 1.8 million tonnes. The agriculture ministry put production at one million tonnes, we put buying at less than that but we will buy all the wheat that is offered to us at collection centres, the government source said, declining to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media. A total of 35 government buying centres are working to buy wheat off farmers across Syria this year. The local wheat-buying season, which started this week, will continue until the end of August.