Morocco will import 4.9 million tonnes of cereals over the next 12 months, including 2.3 million tonnes of soft wheat, to cover a drought-induced shortfall in domestic production, the Agriculture Ministry said on Monday. The import figure marks a rise of nearly 33 percent compared with the current import year, which ends on Tuesday. At 3.6 million tonnes, the North African country this year posted its poorest cereal harvest in five years.
Traders and millers said the 4.9 million tonnes figure for imports was a cautious estimate.
"We imported 5.5 million tonnes of cereals in the May 2000-June 2001 campaign when the harvest reached 3.6 million tonnes, the same level as the current campaign," the manager of a private milling firm said.
Ministry Secretary-General Moha Marghi said the current harvest fell 57 percent compared with the previous campaign after a 36 percent drop in the annual average amount of rainfall.
The cereals area remained almost unchanged at 5.1 million hectares.
Durum wheat imports are set to reach 600,000 tonnes, barley 800,000 tonnes and maize 1.2 million tonnes, the ministry said in an official document given to reporters.
The local harvest yielded 1.75 million tonnes of soft wheat, 770,000 tonnes of durum and 1.05 million tonnes of barley.
Marghi confirmed an imminent rise in import duties on wheat. He said the measure would "protect local farmers' produce over the June, July, and August period". He did not elaborate.
The ministry is guaranteeing a 2,500 dirhams per tonne price for local soft wheat.
Import duties on barley were axed earlier this month to ensure plentiful supply mainly for livestock.