Morocco, one of the largest North African state cereals importers, will triple imports of soft milling wheat in 2007/08, the country's millers group said on Wednesday.
"In the light of the severe drought this season, Morocco's imports of soft wheat will rise from about 10 million quintals (1.0 million tonnes) in the 2006/07 period to 30 million quintals in the period of 2007/08," said Izem Abdellatif, managing director of the Moroccan Millers Federation.
The government has said it expected a harvest of 2.0 million tonnes of cereals this season, down from 9.3 million in the previous campaign because of severe drought. Government sources say half the expected cereals harvest should be soft wheat.
"That expected one million tonnes of soft wheat would be on paper only. Traders who looked to buy from the domestic market have found that most of that amount is of bad quality and the existing decent quality is highly priced," Izem told Reuters.
He said durum wheat imports were seen at 600,000 tonnes, almost unchanged from 2006/07 import levels. "Morocco imports all its needs of durum wheat. Its purchases of that commodity will stay the same as in the current 2006/07 marketing period," he added.
Morocco's soft wheat imports are tied to domestic crops, which swing widely because of cyclical dry seasons. Its soft wheat purchases from abroad stood at 780,000 tonnes in 1994/95 when the kingdom garnered a big cereals harvest but jumped to 3.0 million tonnes in the drought-stricken 2000/01 period.
Izem said he saw "tension" on the market because of soaring prices. "Prices on the domestic market have already increased, reaching up to 300 Moroccan dirhams ($36.05) per quintal from a range of 220-230 dirhams at the same time last year," he said.