With drought abated by late rains during March and April that revitalized crop growth, Morocco’s total wheat and barley production is projected to jump to 4.4 million tonnes in marketing year 2025-26, up 40% from 3.1 million tonnes the previous year, according to a report from the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture.
The projected production includes 2.5 million tonnes of common wheat, 1 million tonnes of durum wheat, and 950,000 tonnes of barley, the FAS said in its June 23 Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report.
While significantly improved, it remains below historical averages, and the government has continued to support wheat imports with no duties announced for this harvest season, which typically runs from May to July.
The FAS is projecting Morocco’s wheat imports to reach 6.7 million tonnes in 2025-26, up 100,000 tonnes the previous year and nearly 700,000 tonnes from 2023-24. Barley imports are forecast at 900,000 tonnes, down from 1.05 million in 2024-25 and 1.5 million in 2023-24.
The EU-27 was Morocco’s top supplier in 2023-24 with 4.4 million tonnes of wheat and 1.2 million tonnes of barley. However, Russia is making inroads in the wheat market during the current marketing year. From June 2024 to March 2025, Morocco imported 1.08 million tonnes of Russian wheat, up 215% from the same period a year ago, while 2.47 million tonnes was imported from the EU-27, down 38%.
Total wheat consumption is projected at 9.6 million tonnes in 2025-26, while barley is seen at 1.8 million tonnes in the North African nation of just over 38 million people.
Morocco is moving forward with a national strategic wheat stocks plan aimed at securing up to six months of consumption in response to repeated droughts and volatility of international wheat prices, the FAS said.
“The National Federation of Cereals and Legumes (FNCL) stated that such stocks are essential to reduce vulnerability and to properly commercialize domestic production,” the FAS said. “The system would involve public-sector coordinated purchases financed by cereal traders, while the state covers the storage cost.”
