Morocco Considers Lifting Soft Wheat Import Duties Amid Global Price Surge

This abolition planned by Morocco was announced on September 13 by traders in a statement to the Reuters news agency, noting that, however, no official voice has either contradicted or denied the information. According to the traders, this measure will "ensure regular supply on the domestic market and price stability in a context of high prices on international markets."

Moreover, recalls the newspaper l’Opinion, since May 15, 2021, the import duty on soft wheat has reached 135% in order to promote the supply of the domestic market following the increase in prices at the global level, although this remains insufficient to meet domestic demand. In addition, the price of the 160-gram soft bread, subsidized by the State, is still 1 dirham and 20 cents. On the other hand, for a few days now, durum wheat has seen a rise in prices in all bakeries due to the rise in the international price of durum wheat caused by the drought in Canada and the germination of wheat in Europe, said the president of the National Federation of Bakery and Pastry Owners (FNBP), Houssine Azaz.

This is not the case in Morocco, as the 2020-2021 cereal agricultural season experienced a very good production level, i.e. 98 million quintals (MQx), including 48.2 MQx of soft wheat, 23.4 MQx of durum wheat and 26 MQx of barley. Thus, in order to promote a good cereal marketing campaign and allow farmers to sell their harvest under good conditions, measures have been put in place. Thus, the price of durum wheat is revised to a reference price of 280 DH/quintal, delivered to the mill for a standard quality, a flat-rate subsidy of 5 DH/quintal for the quantities of national soft wheat marketed until October 31, 2021. Moreover, according to the FAO, national wheat production is expected to reach 7.2 million tons in 2021, a volume higher than the five-year average.