Cereal imports amounted to 8.8 million tonnes (MT) during the year 2022, marking an increase of 23.2% year-on-year, according to the National Ports Agency (ANP).
Analysis of the distribution of this traffic by port shows a high concentration of this activity at the port of Casablanca with a volume of 4.7 MT, representing around 53.6% of the overall grain traffic (i.e. an increase of 10. 3%), specifies a report on the activity of the commercial ports managed by the ANP.
Imports of this commodity in other ports also recorded more or less significant variations, namely Jorf Lasfar (+48.2%), Agadir (+32.9%), Nador (+32.9%) and Safi (+44.3%), adds the same source.
The evolution of these imports, explains the ANP, is due in particular to “unfavorable climatic conditions which led to a sharp drop of 67% in the national production of the main cereals (soft wheat, durum wheat and barley) for the 2021 campaign. /2022, the volume of which did not exceed 34 million quintals”.
The said report also indicates that the traffic of phosphates and derivatives reached, at the end of December 2022, a volume of 27.9 MT, down 20.5%. This variation is mainly the result of the negative trend in exports of fertilizers (-16.6%), crude phosphate (-42.7%) and imports of sulfur (-8.4%) and acid sulfuric (-39.8%).
As for the overall traffic of hydrocarbons, it increased by 9.4% to 11 MT. Analysis of this traffic by port shows variations of +18% at Mohammedia, +7.2% at Jorf Lasfar, -8.8% at Agadir and -10.7% at Nador.