Morocco Restarts Wheat Imports on 16 September
MOROCCO · COMMODITIES
Key Facts
—The restart: A circular from the cereals board ONICL revives the import premium for soft milling wheat on shipments loaded between 16 September and 31 December 2026.
—The reference price: The premium pays importers the gap between their landed cost at the port and a reference price of 270 dirhams a quintal, or 2,700 dirhams a tonne.
—In dollars: At the 24 August rate of 9.2124 dirhams to the dollar, that reference works out at about US$293 a tonne.
—The harvest: The Ministry of Agriculture put the 2026 cereal crop at roughly 90 million quintals, including 44 million of soft wheat, against 43.1 million quintals of all cereals a year earlier.
—The problem: Only about six million quintals of domestic soft wheat were collected against a target of 15 to 20 million, covering some 12% of what industrial mills use in a year.
—The duty: The 170% import duty was held in place until 31 August, with suspension resuming on 1 September.
—No volume cap: No tonnage ceiling has been published for the September-to-December import window.
Morocco wheat imports resume on 16 September 2026. The state pays importers the difference between the port price and a reference price of 270 dirhams a quintal. The reason is not a bad harvest but a record one that never reached the mills.
What Rabat has actually decided
The cereals board issued a circular reviving import restitution for soft milling wheat. This body is the Office National Interprofessionnel des Céréales et des Légumineuses. It applies to cargoes loaded from 16 September until 31 December 2026.
The mechanism is a gap-filler rather than a flat subsidy. The state pays the difference between the average landed cost of imported wheat at the port and a reference price. That reference price is fixed at 270 dirhams a quintal.
That figure is easy to misread. A quintal is 100 kilogrammes, so the reference is 2,700 dirhams a tonne. That is roughly US$293 at the 24 August rate of 9.2124 dirhams to the dollar.
The reference cost includes a fixed importer margin of 22.5 dirhams per quintal. Traders are not asked to work for nothing.
How the premium gets recalculated
The amount is not set once and forgotten. A commission drawn from the agriculture department, the economy and finance department and ONICL recalculates it every month.
The inputs are unusually explicit for a subsidy of this kind. The commission looks at wheat prices on the French, German, Argentine and American markets, at sea freight, and at the dollar-dirham rate.
That list is worth pausing on. South American harvests now sit directly inside a North African price formula. An Argentine crop failure would hit a Moroccan budget line within weeks.
Payment comes in two tranches. Importers receive 80% against volumes actually brought in and the remaining 20% against quantities delivered to industrial mills.
The record crop that did not arrive
The 2026 season was genuinely good after several years of drought. The Ministry of Agriculture put the cereal harvest at about 90 million quintals across roughly 3.9 million hectares. That includes 44 million quintals of soft wheat, 21 million of durum, and 25 million of barley.
The comparison is startling. All cereals together came to 43.1 million quintals the previous campaign, so 2026 slightly more than doubled it.
Only around six million quintals of domestic soft wheat were collected by authorised operators. That fell short of the government-and-industry target of 15 to 20 million. Collection was running at roughly five million quintals at the end of July. That is why the primable window was stretched to 31 August.
Six million quintals covers about 12% of what Morocco’s industrial mills consume in a year. A record crop, in other words, left the milling sector almost exactly where a poor one would have.
Why Morocco wheat imports had stopped at all
Rabat had closed the door deliberately. The 170% customs duty was restored on 1 June to protect farmers while the domestic crop came in. It was then extended to 31 August, with suspension resuming on 1 September.
Alongside that sit two separate storage incentives that are easy to confuse. A warehousing premium of 2.50 dirhams a quintal per fortnight applies. A storage premium of 3.00 dirhams a quintal per fortnight starts from 1 September.
The storage scheme is capped by volume in declining steps. It allows eight million quintals from 1 September to 31 October and six million through November and December. From January it falls to four million for two months.
No equivalent ceiling has been published for the import window itself. On the evidence available, the September-to-December mechanism is uncapped.
What the millers say it is worth
Moulay Abdelkader Alaoui heads the national milling federation. He told SNRTnews that soft wheat costs about 285 dirhams a quintal globally.
Set against the 270-dirham reference, that leaves a gap of roughly 14.5 to 15 dirhams a quintal for the state to cover. It is a modest number that becomes a large one at scale.
One distinction matters for anyone reading the domestic market. The 270 figure is the import reference. Local soft wheat delivered to industrial mills has its own reference of 280 dirhams.
Wheat for subsidised flour is ceded to mills at 258.80 dirhams.
Three prices, three purposes. Collapsing them into one number is the quickest way to misunderstand Moroccan grain policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do Morocco wheat imports restart?
The mechanism applies to soft milling wheat loaded from 16 September to 31 December 2026. It comes under a circular from the cereals board ONICL.
How much is the subsidy?
It is not a fixed amount. The state pays the difference between the average landed cost at the port and a reference price of 270 dirhams a quintal. This reference price is recalculated monthly.
Why import after a record harvest?
Because very little of the crop reached the mills. Only about six million quintals of domestic soft wheat were collected. That is against a 15-to-20 million quintal target, covering roughly 12% of annual milling needs.
Is there a limit on how much can be imported?
No tonnage ceiling has been published for this window. The eight, six and four million quintal caps that circulate apply to the domestic storage premium, not to imports.
Which markets set the price?
The recalculation commission uses French, German, Argentine and American wheat prices, together with sea freight costs and the dollar-dirham exchange rate.
Connected Coverage
Morocco has been busy on several fronts this month: read our report on how Morocco came to absorb almost all of France’s arms sales in North Africa. For the wider regional picture, see our coverage hub for Northern Africa.
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