A drought-related shortage of Canadian durum wheat production has driven up the price of durum wheat in Morocco, as well as that of its by-products, reported Atalayar Wednesday.
President of the National Federation of Moroccan Mills, Moulay Abdelkader Alaoui, said in a press release that the price of durum wheat, which is used to make semolina flour (most used in Moroccan couscous, as well as pasta flour, and traditional Moroccan pastries such as harsha and msemen), has risen sharply in the past few months.
Alaoui was quick to point out that the traditional wheat market is very stable, with the price per quintal reaching a maximum of 300 MAD (27.4 euros), while world markets are seeing a clear rise in durum wheat prices, which are currently around 600 MAD (54.8 euros).
Alaoui added that climate issues in Canada, including drought and rising temperatures, in recent months have severely affected durum wheat production. He also warned that Morocco’s domestic stores of durum may barely last two to three months at most.
He said that due to Moroccan customers’ reliance on this commodity, it is hard to substitute imports of Canadian durum wheat with other suppliers, especially because Canada is the world’s leading supplier of durum wheat.
Drought and rising temperatures in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, which account for 78% of the country’s wheat production, make the situation very worrying.
Morocco has also had to face record-high prices of conventional wheat in the last year as a result of Russia-Ukraine crisis, which has destabilized the worldwide wheat trade.
Morocco is predicted to produce roughly 3 million tonnes of common wheat, 1 million tonnes of durum wheat, and 1.3 million tonnes of barley this year, according to the most recent US Department of Agriculture estimates.