A combine drives over stalks of soft red winter wheat during the harvest on a farm in Dixon, Illinois, July 16, 2013. REUTERS/Jim Young/File Photo
RABAT: Morocco's grain agency ONICL said on Wednesday it had bought 260,000 tonnes of U.S. soft wheat under a preferential tariff agreement.
ONICL launched a tender to buy 303,637 tonnes of U.S. soft wheat, with shipments that should arrive at Moroccan ports by Dec. 31.
Last month, ONICL bought 235,000 tonnes of U.S. soft wheat, 310,000 tonnes of EU soft and 45,000 of EU durum under the same agreement.
Morocco may import as much as 2 million tonnes of soft wheat from the United States and EU after a severe drought hit the country's harvest this year, traders believe. A 30 percent customs duty on soft wheat imports makes U.S. and EU wheat more competitive against Black Sea wheat, they said.
The North African kingdom has agreements with the United States and the European Union to import certain types of grain at preferential tariffs, with volumes depending on the size of the local harvest.
