Morocco to increase imports of wheat and barley

UkrAgroConsult

This season Morocco will increase its wheat imports to 7.5 million tons, by 1 million tons compared to the 2022/2023 season (June-May). Barley imports will increase to 0.7 million tons, up 0.45 million tons. This is stated in a report of the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture (FAS USDA).

According to official estimates, this season Moroccan farmers harvested 2.98 million tons of soft wheat, 1.18 million tons of durum wheat and 1.35 million tons of barley. Although the gross yields of wheat and barley are well above last season’s poor harvest, they remain below average due to persistent moisture deficits.

On May 31, 2023, the Moroccan government suspended the soft wheat import support program as world prices for the crop fell and inflationary pressures eased.

The import duty on wheat and barley remains zero until December 31, 2023, to encourage stockpiling.

In the 2021/2022 season, Morocco imported 4.1 million tons of wheat, including 1.6 million tons from the European Union, 0.9 million tons from Argentina, 0.6 million tons from Ukraine, 0.5 million tons from Canada and 0.4 million tons from Brazil. Imports from Russia did not exceed 29,000 tonnes.

Imports of barley in the 2021/2022 season amounted to 976.4 thousand tons. Almost all of the barley was supplied from the European Union (786.2 tons). The rest was supplied from Argentina, Ukraine and Russia.

Tags: wheat, Morocco, barley