In 2024, Morocco will only operate 56% of its infrastructure dedicated to cereal grinding, including only 23% for barley grinding, compared to 62% for durum wheat and 56% for soft wheat.
The number of grain mills in Morocco reached 141 in 2024, of which 113 specialize in soft wheat. However, 14 of these flour mills experienced prolonged shutdowns of more than two years, thus depriving consumers of a grinding capacity of 5.35 million quintals per year.
According to the National Interprofessional Office for Cereals and Legumes (ONICL), the active annual grinding capacity in Morocco is currently 10.7 million tonnes, of which 82% is intended for the grinding of soft wheat, 17% for durum wheat, and about 1% to barley. The storage capacity amounts to 1.1 million tonnes in the form of silos.
The same organization indicates in its statistics for the year 2024 that 50% of the grinding units are located in the regions of Casablanca-Settat and Fès-Meknes. Among them, 16 flour mills specialize in durum wheat and 12 dedicated to barley.
The regions of Casablanca-Settat, Fès-Meknes and Marrakech-Safi have all the durum wheat mills, no other region having this equipment. The same goes for barley mills, which are lacking in all regions, with the exception of those of Casablanca-Settat, Marrakech-Safi, Beni Mellal-Khénifra and Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra.
These flour mills produce 8.8 million tonnes of soft wheat annually compared to 1.9 million tonnes of durum wheat and barley, knowing that 92% of durum wheat grinding capacities in Morocco are concentrated near the port of Casablanca.
The Kingdom has experienced a slight decline since 2021, both in terms of the number of mills intended for soft wheat and grinding capacities.
The Office highlighted that 14 soft wheat mills were closed for a long period (more than three months) over the past five years, of which 4 were closed for less than two years and 10 others for more than two years. The total grinding capacity of the closed facilities amounts to 5.35 million quintals per year.
It should be noted that Morocco has decided to continue support for wheat imports. The National Cereals and Legumes Office has confirmed the introduction of flat-rate support for quantities imported between January 1 and April 30, 2025, “as part of efforts to encourage importers to guarantee a sufficient national stock of this basic material, alongside the sharp decline in national production”.
Agricultural sector observers believe that this measure takes into account the possibility of persistence of drought and delays, or even scarcity, of precipitation during the current agricultural season, which will force Morocco to continue importing this material. essential.
