In 2024, Morocco used a limited part of its crushing infrastructure, with notable underexploitation of barley. While local production struggles to meet demand, the country continues to support wheat imports to guarantee sufficient stocks in the face of climatic uncertainties.
The cereal processing sector in Morocco revealed worrying figures in 2024 regarding the operation of grinding infrastructures. Of all the available capacities, only 56% was used, a figure which hides significant disparities depending on the type of cereal. While durum and soft wheat benefit from better exploitation, barley remains largely underexploited.
The Kingdom had 141 grain mills in 2024, 113 of which specialize in grinding soft wheat. However, many of these devices are far from operating at full capacity. Indeed, 14 mills have been inactive for more than two years, reducing the available grinding capacity by 5.35 million quintals per year. The National Interprofessional Office for Cereals and Legumes (ONICL) specifies that the active annual grinding capacity amounts to 10.7 million tonnes, of which 82% is dedicated to soft wheat, 17% to durum wheat, and around 1 % to barley.
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Another important characteristic of the sector is the geographical concentration of mills. In 2024, 50% of grinding units were located in the Casablanca-Settat and Fès-Meknes regions. These areas also concentrate flour mills specializing in durum wheat and barley, with facilities mainly located near the port of Casablanca, an undeniable logistical advantage. However, this geographic concentration can lead to regional imbalances, limiting access to infrastructure in certain parts of the country. The regions of Casablanca-Settat, Fès-Meknes and Marrakech-Safi hold all the durum wheat mills and are the only ones to have facilities for grinding barley. This situation would make the country vulnerable to any disruption in these regions, as the prolonged closures of certain mills would have shown.
-Despite the theoretical crushing capacity, the production of processed cereals remains insufficient to meet national needs. In 2024, flour mills produced 8.8 million tonnes of soft wheat, compared to only 1.9 million tonnes of durum wheat and barley. This demonstrates a marked preference for the processing of soft wheat, to the detriment of the diversification of production. In addition, the prolonged closure of certain mills since 2021, with a lost grinding capacity of 5.35 million quintals per year, has exacerbated this underproduction situation.
Faced with these challenges, Morocco opted for a pragmatic solution by continuing its support for wheat imports. The National Cereals and Legumes Office announced the establishment of flat-rate support for the quantities of wheat imported between 1is January and April 30, 2025. This measure aims to encourage importers to maintain sufficient stocks in the country, in order to compensate for the drop in national production.
Agricultural sector experts emphasize that this decision takes into account the persistence of difficult climatic conditions, notably drought and low rainfall expected for the current agricultural season. These factors risk further impacting local production, thus forcing Morocco to resort to importing wheat to guarantee supplies to the domestic market.
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