The head of the National Federation of Grain and Grain Merchants in Morocco, Omar Yaqoubi, said today, Tuesday, that Russia is expected to lead suppliers of soft wheat to Morocco this season 2024-2025, surpassing France.
He told Reuters that Morocco needs to import 5 million tons of soft wheat after a small local harvest due to drought.
Yaqoubi added – on the sidelines of a conference held by a French grain export company – that France – which announced a decline in its soft wheat yield – “does not have the quantities required to cover the needs of the Moroccan market.”
He explained that wheat imported from countries bordering the Black Sea has been the most competitive in the market since last August.
In light of the expected decline in French wheat exports, “we are forced to look to other exporting countries such as Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, the Baltic states, Poland and Germany,” Yacoubi said.
He pointed out that the low quantities available for export in France make Russia a “market maker,” and said that Moroccan traders also expect to import from Argentina and Brazil.
For his part, Jean-François Labbe from the French Grain Exporters Association said at the conference that French soft wheat sales to Morocco are expected to decline to 1.5 million tons this season, compared to 2.8 million tons previously.
In turn, the President of the National University of Mills, Abdelkader Alaoui, said that between June and August last year, Morocco imported about 1.5 million tons, and France was in the lead, followed by Russia, Poland, Germany, and Ukraine.
He added, “The stability of prices until September encouraged an increase in imports… We look forward to continuing to import until March,” noting that stocks of basic foodstuffs are sufficient for a little more than 3 months.
