RABAT: Millers and wheat importers in Morocco have asked the government to extend a current import window and to allow an earlier start to next season's imports as drought threatens to slash the local harvest, trade sources said.

Moroccan wheat trade federation FNCL has proposed to the authorities that the import campaign close at the end of May instead of April 30 and for next season's import window to be opened in August, the sources said.

The country's import campaign typically runs from October until the end of April, after which import tariffs are raised in order to protect the local harvest.

No decision has been taken by the government but officials seemed responsive during a meeting held on April 4, the sources said.

Copyright Reuters, 2016