News in brief: Morocco is set to import 2.5 million tons of soft wheat from France, accounting for half of its soft wheat requirements, due to a decline in wheat supplies from Eastern Europe and a severe drought in 2022.
Morocco is expected to import 2.5 million tons of soft wheat from France this season, which amounts to 50% of its entire soft wheat needs. Yann Lebeau, the Maghreb region head at French wheat professionals group Intercereales, made this known to reporters.
France has already exported 1 million tons of soft wheat to Morocco this summer in the wake of the severe drought that hit the country in 2022, a report says.
The sharp increase in Morocco’s wheat imports comes as a result of the country experiencing a decline in wheat supplies from Eastern Europe as well as the earlier-mentioned drought.
According to a Relief Web report, the drought devastated Morocco’s agricultural output and its food security. It is described as the worst to hit the country in over thirty years and resulted in a 70% loss of annual crop production.
The country was the largest destination for wheat from the European Union, especially France, for the 2022/23 agricultural campaign.
In the first eight months of 2022, wheat imports skyrocketed to $1.7 billion, almost double the amount of $842 million recorded during the same period in 2021. The sharp increase in imports highlights the devastating impact of the drought on the country’s agriculture sector. It also underscores the urgent need for Morocco to diversify its food supply sources.
In addition, with more than 500,000 people internally displaced by the September 2023 earthquake, Morocco’s reliance on food imports and aid grows.
