Morocco is expected to import about 600,000 tonnes of durum wheat and 1.5 million tonnes of soft milling wheat in 2009, a representative for Moroccan millers said on Monday. Abdellatif Izem, head of the Moroccan Millers Federation, also told Reuters a good harvest would help reduce imports.
Morocco imported 4 million tonnes of wheat in 2008. "Imports of durum wheat will be around 600,000 tonnes until the end of December this year. As for soft wheat, it will be around 1.5 million tonnes," he said on the sidelines of a conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
"It's a record harvest this year but it won't be enough for self-sufficiency, it just means our imports will go down," he said. Morocco's Arigulture and Fisheries Ministry said in April it would harvest 10.2 million tonnes of grains this year compared with 5 million tonnes in 2008.