Source: Oleoscope (Russia)
After a break of almost 5 years, Morocco has resumed purchases of Russian sunflower oil and meal. In addition, barley, corn, leguminous crops, bran, beverages, honey, confectionery and a number of other agro-industrial products are supplied to this country, according to the Federal Center for the Development of Agro-industrial Complex Exports.
Last year, Russia supplied Morocco with meal for the first time since 2015. As a result, by the end of 2024, the Kingdom became one of the top 10 importers of domestic sunflower meal and top 5 importers of rapeseed meal. About 60% of the supplied volume was sunflower meal and cake, 40% – rapeseed.
“After a multi-year break, Russia resumed supplies of edible oil and fat products to Morocco. And while sunflower oil exports are still insignificant, our rapeseed and sunflower meal immediately took a share of more than 5% of total meal imports to the Kingdom. In general, the markets of North Africa, and Morocco in particular, have the potential to increase exports of Russian oil and fat products, as these countries are very dependent on imports of vegetable oils and meal, and Russia is able to offer quality products at an attractive price”, – in turn, says Mikhail Maltsev, Executive Director of the Russian Oil and Fat Union.
According to experts’ estimates, in 2024 Russia will send to Morocco agricultural products worth about $280 million, which is almost 3 times higher than in 2023. The growth driver was wheat supplies, which increased by 3.4 times in value terms over the year. According to experts, Russian exporters shipped more than 1 million tons of grain to Morocco in 2024. Thanks to a more competitive price and quality, Russia has become the leader among wheat suppliers to Morocco, overtaking France, which for many years was the largest seller to the North African state.
According to the Federal Center “Agroexport”, the potential of Russian supplies of agricultural products to Morocco is estimated at $350 million. The main promising categories are cereals, vegetable oils, residues from starch and sugar beet production, confectionery, beef and other agricultural products.
According to OleoScope, 53.6 thousand tons of meal and 8.1 thousand tons of oils were supplied to the kingdom last year.