Morocco is diversifying wheat suppliers in light of ongoing geopolitical instabilities in Eastern Europe, to avoid scarcity and ensure sufficient imports, opening up to over 25 different exporting nations.
In response to a written question about the government’s efforts to counter the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war on agricultural imports, the Ministry of Agriculture said that Morocco has adopted a strategy to diversify sources of supply, in order to avoid all factors that could affect the national market.
According to the same source, grains were supplied during the previous agricultural season from 25 countries in Europe, North and South America, and Asia.
Despite the current climatic conditions and geopolitical factors, Morocco was able to import grains from 15 countries following the suspension of imports from war-stricken Ukraine, according to data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture.
It appears that Morocco is no longer satisfied with relying on traditional grain import sources, an important part of which came from Europe and North America, as Argentina and Brazil accounted for 41% of Moroccan wheat imports by the end of last February.
The Ministry of Agriculture considered that thanks to the strategy of diversifying the sources of grain supply, Morocco was able to avoid the repercussions of external fluctuations, due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which are the second and third suppliers of soft wheat to the Kingdom, respectively.
Official spokesman for the government Mustapha Baitas confirmed two weeks ago that Morocco has a stockpile of wheat that covers four months.
Morocco imported 5.6 million quintals of soft wheat and 500 thousand quintals of Ukrainian barley, out of Ukraine’s usual share in the national market, which amounts to about 8.7 million quintals of soft wheat, and 670,000 quintals of barley, according to data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture in response to deputies’ question.
The ministry also confirmed that the rest of the soft wheat and barley quota that Morocco used to import from Ukraine can be easily covered from other sources, especially the European Union and Argentina, thanks to the diversification strategy.
The ministry stressed that the departments concerned with ensuring the Kingdom’s grain needs “are closely monitoring the situation in order to suggest the best ways to ensure the country’s supply.”
The government adopted a number of measures aimed at maintaining the stability of the price at which mill owners buy soft wheat, in order to maintain the stability of the prices of bread extracted from soft wheat flour at MAD 1.20 per unit.
The government halted import duties imposed on soft wheat starting from November 1, 2021, stopped the collection of import duties imposed on hard wheat starting from August 1, 2021, and launched a random grant on soft wheat imports starting from November 1, 2021, to end of April 2022, which was extended until the end of November 2022.
The Ministry of Agriculture said that the lump-sum subsidy system has enabled, so far, to import soft wheat quantities that exceed the monthly needs of industrial mills.
With regard to hard wheat supplies, the ministry stated that international prices remain high in Canada and France, and that the concerned bodies are focused on “studying all possible ways to reduce the repercussions of high prices of materials manufactured from hard wheat derivatives on the purchasing power of citizens.”
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