Posted on March, 27, 2023 at 01:39 am
Morocco has become the biggest importer of wheat from the European Union in the 2022/2023 agriculture season, amid declining supplies from eastern Europe and the 2022 drought that had crippled Morocco’s agriculture.
According to data cited in a report from Reuters, Morocco is set to import 1.5 million tonnes of soft wheat between March and May this year.
Suppliers are largely relying on the EU as importing from Russia and Ukraine is riddled with financial and logistical risks, French grain industry group Intercereales, Yann Lebeau, told Reuters.
Stable demand from the Moroccan market, among other destinations, is providing an export outlet for the EU’s largest wheat producer, France, to sell a surplus of 10 million tonnes that was not sold to EU member states.
Morocco’s 2022 agriculture campaign was hit by the worst drought to hit the country in over three decades. The drought caused Morocco’s rainfall-dependent agriculture to lose 70% of its annual grain crops, data suggest.
As grains, especially wheat, are staples to the Moroccan diet, the drought deepened Morocco’s dependence on wheat imports. In the first eight months of 2022, wheat imports rose to MAD 18.8 billion ($1.7 billion), almost double the MAD 9.2 billion ($842 million) a year earlier.
To guarantee a steady supply of wheat, the country announced earlier this month, adding an amendment to its wheat import regulations that would allow companies to bring more wheat products from the Black Sea region.
Under the new regulations, companies importing wheat from the Black Sea region will be handed monthly subsidies if shipments are loaded before the end of March.
Source: Morocco World News