Intercereales' Philippe Heusele said that French wheat exporters would supply Morocco with 3.5 million tons of soft wheat, or two thirds, during the 2025-2026 harvest season.

Moroccan traders and French grains associations Synacomex estimate that Morocco will import 5.5 millions tons of soft wheat this market year, from June until the end of May 2020.

Morocco's recent harvests have been below average due to drought. It reported a wheat harvest of only 2.4 million tonnes this season.

Abdelkader Alaoui said that despite the poor domestic harvest, stocks remain at "a comfortable level", covering the needs of industrial millers for more than three months, according to the president of FNM, the industrial milling association.

Moroccan traders at the Intercereales Conference in Casablanca believe that the French harvest is the best-positioned due to its proximity and availability, compared to other origins like the Black Sea and Argentina.

Omar Yacoubi is the head of FNCL (the Moroccan grain traders' federation).

FNCL data show that between June and September, Morocco imported 1,5 million tons of soft grain, with 996,368 tonnes coming from France. The United States followed closely behind (94,688 tonnes), Russia (85.499 tons), and Lithuania (63,000). Reporting by Ahmed El Jechtimi Editing Kirsten Donovan & David Goode

(source: Reuters)