Morocco's cereal harvest is expected to reach 9.82 million tonnes in 2018, matching last year's harvest despite late rainfall, the agriculture minister said on Monday. The forecast is above the most recent official estimates for about 8 million tonnes. "Despite the difficult start of this season, we managed to catch up," Aziz Akhannouch told an agricultural conference in the city of Meknes.
This year's harvest includes 4.81 million tonnes of soft wheat, 2.28 million tonnes of hard wheat and 2.73 of barley, the agriculture ministry said in a statement. More than 4.5 million hectares were sowed with soft wheat, hard wheat and barley in 2018 compared with 5.4 million hectares a year earlier, it said. A year earlier, Morocco produced 4.89 million tonnes of soft wheat, 2.19 million tonnes of hard wheat and 2.46 of barley, statistics by the state-run grains authority ONICLE showed.
This season takes place in good conditions after abundant rainfall, up 16 percent on an average year, the ministry said. Akhannouch said Morocco would raise customs duties for wheat imports in May. "In light of this year's good harvest Morocco will lower its wheat imports and raise custom duties starting in May," he told reporters, without giving further details.
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