Absent from the list of main suppliers of soft wheat to Morocco in March, Russia made a strong comeback during the month of April. According to the latest statistics from the National Federation of Cereal and Legume Traders (FNCL), consulted by Le360, the Kingdom imported 61,580 tonnes of wheat from the country of the tsars, or 25.76% of its total imports during this period. Cargoes that were unloaded at the port of Casablanca.
These large volumes allowed Moscow to be Morocco’s third supplier last month, behind France (114,611 tonnes) and Germany (62,830 tonnes). Ukraine, which shipped 97,797 tonnes in February and March to the Kingdom, is not on this list. In April, Morocco reduced its supplies of soft wheat which amounted to 239,021 tonnes, far from the 598,530 tonnes purchased in March.
“Imports vary depending on market conditions, the most competitive origins and the supply needs of the local market. Three main parameters that we take into account in our daily evaluations to determine the choice of our suppliers”explained Omar Yacoubi, president of the National Federation of Cereal and Legume Traders (FNCL), in a statement for Le360.
Morocco imported 1,844,607 tonnes between January and April 2024
In total, the Kingdom imported 1,844,607 tonnes between January and April 2024, a figure well below the objective of 2.5 million tonnes set by the National Interprofessional Office for Cereals and Legumes (ONICL), the November 21, 2023, when the establishment of a new refund system for the importation of soft wheat was announced.
The three suppliers of soft wheat from Morocco during the month of April (Source: National Federation of Cereals and Legumes Traders)
| Suppliers | Quantities of soft wheat |
|---|---|
| France | 114,611 tonnes |
| Germany | 62,830 tonnes |
| Russia | 61,580 tonnes |
In a circular dated January 31, 2024, ONICL also announced the establishment of a bonus for the constitution of a stock of 10 million quintals (1 million tonnes) of imported soft wheat, from February 1 to April 30, 2024. Recently, on April 29, the office unveiled the establishment of a flat-rate premium for the importation of soft wheat between May 1 and December 31, 2024.
Purchases of soft wheat on the international market could allow Morocco to reduce the deficit in the cereal season. According to projections from Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) based on data as of March 10, 2024, national cereal production would be around 25 million quintals at the end of this campaign, very far from the 55.1 million quintals ( including 29.8 million quintals of soft wheat) a year earlier. A drop of more than 50%. Which would be one of the worst harvests recorded in Morocco.
Read also: Wheat: here is the quantity that Morocco should import to compensate for the shortage of the cereal campaign
According to the institution headed by wali Abdellatif Jouahri, this significant fall in the harvest results from the drop in rainfall, caused by generally unfavorable climatic conditions.
Contacted by Le360, Omar Yacoubi had indicated that Morocco should import 10 million tonnes of this “brown gold” during the current agricultural campaign to compensate for the shortfall in the next cereal harvest. “We will have to better organize ourselves in terms of logistics, particularly in port logistics to avoid congestion, to meet this challenge which is within our reach.“, he argued.
