RABAT: Moroccan grains traders and millers expect Morocco to double its cereals harvest this season after abundant winter rains, with limited impact from floods in the northwestern plains of the North African country, which is a major grains importer.
Industry leaders plan to add domestic wheat to strategic reserves this year “without compromising imports”, said Moulay Abdelkader Alaoui, head of the federation of industrial millers FNM, who expects a domestic harvest of 6 million metric tons.
“We expect a good cereals harvest this year of 8 to 9 million tons, including around 5 million tons of soft wheat,” Omar Yacoubi, head of Morocco’s wheat trading federation FNCL, told Reuters. The previous harvest was 4.4 million tons, including 2.4 million tons of soft wheat.
Morocco traditionally cancels its wheat import subsidy and reinstates customs duties to protect the local harvest. But this year importers, millers and traders have asked the government to extend the subsidy window to June 1, instead of May 1, to compensate for costs incurred due to bad weather.
Rainfall this winter was 34percent above the 30-year average and triple the previous year’s levels, while dam filling rates improved to 70percent from about 25percent, agriculture ministry data shows, while the total grain-planted area rose to 3.7 million hectares, from 2.6 million the year before.
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