Morocco seen producing 3.8 mln T soft wheat: ONICL

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31 May 2010

Morocco is likely to produce 3.8 million tonnes of soft wheat this year and damage to the crop from recent adverse weather is limited, the head of state grains agency ONICL said. Last year the north African country saw record grains production of 10.2 million tonnes including 4.3 million tonnes of soft wheat, enabling it to slash imports.
Morocco is usually one of the world's biggest buyers of foreign grain, most of it from France, Germany and the United States. Its national cereals harvest can swing widely from year to year because of cyclical droughts.
"We see soft wheat production of 3.8 million tonnes (in 2010) and we hope to collect between 2 and 2.2 million tonnes ... through the operators agreed by the ONICL," the agency's director Aziz Abdelali told Reuters.
Merchants, cooperatives and processors licensed by the ONICL tend to collect between 55 and 60 percent of national soft wheat output.
Morocco's rainfall during the crucial months of September to January was 73 percent higher than average and Abdelali said the rains were spread well across the country.
"There has been rain practically everywhere. Production was well spread across Morocco compared to last year when a lot of it was in zones that were not habitually productive," he said.
Abdelali said it was not possible to provide a firm picture of the quality of this year's crop.
"But it seems there are regions that are not bad at all -- the region close to Safi for example," he said.
"In the Gharb region there has been some damage along limited corridors, but across practically all of the 5 million hectares sown (at a national level), losses are marginal."
The government subsidises bread wheat to make it more affordable for the country's population.
Locally produced or imported wheat to make subsidized flour enters mills at the same price and the state pays the difference.
The government said this month it would raise tariffs for soft wheat imports to 135 percent from 90 percent for the second half of 2010 to shield local farmers from competition.
Most foreign wheat enters Morocco via competitive tenders using lower tariffs agreed under free trade deals with the European Union and the United States.
Agriculture Minister Aziz Akhennouch told Reuters last month that Morocco was likely to import around 3.6 million tonnes of soft wheat to make up the difference between 2010 domestic production and demand.
He forecast the overall grains harvest at 8 million tonnes.

Source: Reuters