Morocco Turns to Brazil for Wheat Imports Amid Global Shortage

As the Ukraine war continues to shroud the global wheat market in uncertainty, Morocco has turned to Brazil to maintain its stocks are well supplied.

Morocco’s wheat imports from Brazil reached 360,000 tons during the first four months of 2022, a 632% year-on-year increase, according to data from the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce reported by the Valley Post.

During the same period, almost half of Brazil’s wheat exports went to Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Sudan, and Egypt, which grew fourfold, the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce says.

At the end of April, Brazil exported 2.3 million tons of wheat, up from 568,000 tons in the same period last year, up by 313% year-to-year.

Speaking to the Brazilian News Agency, the Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Tamer Mansour, said that increasing wheat exports reflects Brazil’s efforts to fill the supply vacuum in the global wheat market.

The Brazilian official further added that Saudi Arabia is Brazil’s main wheat export market, as imports to the Gulf country reached 505,000 tons, a 258% increase, while exports to Sudan totaled 146,300 tons and Egypt 46,200 tons.

The war in Ukraine has especially affected the global wheat supply market, as Russia and Ukraine supply almost a third of global wheat exports.

After a long steady increase in prices, wheat prices started to rise significantly in the leadup to the Ukraine invasion, reaching an all-time high on March 17, breaking the 2008 record of $444 per ton.

Adding to the impacts of the war in Ukraine, India’s recent ban on wheat exports pushed wheat prices to another record high at $453 per ton.

Tags: Market, Morocco, Ukraine, exports, Brazil, global, wheat, imports