MOROCCO – Morocco is exploring diversifying wheat import as their traditional sources particularly France become unreliable, considering expansion into the Russian market.
On Monday, wheat professionals held a meeting in Rabat with Russian suppliers to address changes faced, in terms of Wheat imports from both Russia and Ukraine.
Omar El Yaacoubi, the President of the National Federation of Grain and Legumes outlined the challenges faced by the professionals in the sector, stressing that importers are exploring means to increase the number of countries supplying wheat to Morocco.
According to the federation’s president, importers suggest that Russia should “ensure the safe passage of ships to Morocco, or secure them at least when crossing from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.”
While discussing the challenges, El Yaacoubi reassured the public about Morocco’s market stability, stressing that there are no shortages.
“Grain traders have sufficient resources to meet the needs of Moroccan consumers,”
During the meeting, the President of the National Federation of Mills Moulay Abdelkader Alaoui discussed the sector’s challenges, stressing that the country’s mills prefer using high-quality imported grains from specific markets, including Europe, Russia, and Latin America.
Alaoui argued that the high-quality imported grains have a significant impact on the quality of flour.
In September, Russia expressed its readiness to supply Morocco with wheat, emphasizing the importance of partnership between the two countries.
Russian ambassador to Morocco Vladimir Baibakov said in an interview with the Russian news agency that his country is ready to cooperate with Morocco in the sector, amid the intensifying energy and food crisis.
He stressed that the two countries “buy goods that are most demanded on their markets from each other.”
This comes after Alexandre Marie, chief analyst for Agritel (Argus Media France), told the agricultural news daily Terre-Net, on the sidelines of a conference organized in Paris on August 24 that France should ship 4.3 million tonnes of common wheat to Algeria and Morocco in 2023/2024.
This stock would represent 45% of the export potential to third countries during the said campaign which will end by next June, but would remain below the level of 7 million tonnes exceeded regularly between 2013/2014 and 2019/2020.
French wheat exports to these two countries have therefore fallen drastically in recent years, these regions that consume the most wheat in the world head to Russia for their imports.
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