THIS REPORT CONTAINS ASSESSMENTS OF COMMODITY AND TRADE ISSUES MADE BY USDA STAFF AND NOT NECESSARILY STATEMENTS OF OFFICIAL U.S. GOVERNMENT POLICY
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Under the auspices of the US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, on October 23, 2017, Morocco’s state cereals office (ONICL) issued the second tender of calendar year 2017 to import 30,000 MT of common wheat and 327,273 MT of durum wheat from the United States. Bids close and results should be
announced on November 10. Deliveries must arrive by December 31, 2017. To facilitate trade, the Government of Morocco simultaneously lowered the MFN import duty for common wheat, effective December 1, from 135% to 30%, which translates into a reduction of the preferential U.S. in-quota duty from 83.7% to 9.9%.
Mohamed Fardaoussi Morgan Haas
SP1 - Expand International Marketing Opportunities SP2 - Prevent or Resolve Barriers to Trade that Hinder U.S. Food and Agricultural Exports
Grain and Feed
Morocco Reopens to U.S. Wheat in 2017
Rabat
Morocco
MO1708 10/24/2017 Public
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Morocco Reopens 2017 Tender for US Wheat
Under the auspices of the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, on October 23, 2017, Morocco’s state cereals office (ONICL) issued the second tender of calendar year 2017 to import 30,000 MT of common wheat and 327,273 MT of durum wheat from the United States, with deliveries required to be made by December 31, 2017 and volume commitments allowed to be +/- 10% of the auction results, which will be announced on November 10.
Product Tender
Opens
Tender Closes
Quantity For Delivery No Later Than
U.S. Common Wheat
Oct 24, 2017 Nov 10, 2017 30,000 MT Dec 31, 2017
U.S. Durum Wheat Oct 24, 2017 Nov 10, 2017 327,273 MT
Dec 31, 2017
For more information, see ONICL –Reference circular N DC/SIE 2811 of October 23, 2017.
As prescribed in the U.S.-Morocco FTA, the preferential quota volumes in calendar year 2017 are 400,000 MT for common wheat and 360,000 MT for durum wheat. This announcement follows
Morocco’s earlier December/January tender for common and durum wheat deliveries in 2017 and
reflects the unassigned/remaining quota volume. See Appendix for trade-to-date.
For more information, see USTR–Morocco General Notes and Annex 1 to Morocco General Notes; FAS/Rabat –Morocco Opens US and EU Tenders for Wheat (12/28/2016) and Morocco: Grain and Feed Update – January 2017 (01/19/2017).
Common Wheat Duty Lowered, Effective December 1, 2017
In order to facilitate trade, the Government of Morocco simultaneously lowered the seasonal MFN import duty for common wheat, effective December 1, from 135% to 30%, which will translate into a reduction of the preferential U.S. in-quota duty from 83.7% to 9.9%. However, the common wheat import duty is a complex tariff, and only the portion of the unit value less than or equal to
MAD1000/MT is charged the MFN (e.g., Black Sea) or preferential (e.g., United States) rate while the portion of the unit value exceeding MAD1000/MT remains subject to an import duty of 2.5%. For example, given an MFN duty of 30% and a preferential rate of 9.9%, if the unit value of common wheat entering Morocco is $220/MT, roughly equivalent to MAD2,000/MT, this would result in an effective tariff rate of 6.2% for the United States whereas the Black Sea would pay 16.3%.
For more information, see Government of Morocco, Decree 6613 (2017); FAS/Rabat –Common Wheat Import Duties Jump to 135% (06/29/17).
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Appendix: Wheat Trade Matrix
Morocco Imports of Common Wheat Subject to the TRQ: 1001.99.00.19 and 1001.99.00.90 (excludes Seed: 1001.91 and Feed Wheat: 1001.99.00.11), MT
01/2017 02/2017 03/2017 04/2017 05/2017 06/2017 07/2017 Jan-Jul 2017 World 30,000 125,580 575,070 1,225,180 10,701 - 20 1,966,551 United States - - 152,742 214,153 - - 20 366,915
Ukraine - 8,242 81,145 241,283 - - - 330,670
Romania - 27,085 111,192 143,379 - - - 281,656 France - 59,174 26,601 149,262 4,400 - - 239,437
Germany 30,000 - 121,848 82,228 - - - 234,076
Argentina - 31,079 15,000 102,507 - - - 148,586
Russia - - - 136,471 - - - 136,471
Bulgaria - - 63,634 57,737 - - - 121,371
Hungary - - - 67,959 - - - 67,959
Estonia - - - 26,900 - - - 26,900
United Kingdom - - - - 6,301 - - 6,301
Canada - - - 3,300 - - - 3,300
Slovakia - - 2,910 - - - - 2,910
Source: IHS Markit Inc.
Morocco Imports of Durum Wheat Subject to the TRQ: 1001.19.00.90 (excludes Seed: 1001.11 and June-July: 1001.19.00.10), MT
01/2017 02/2017 03/2017 04/2017 05/2017 06/2017 07/2017 Jan-Jul 2017 World 79,536 86,861 78,020 65,399 247,858 - - 557,674 Canada 62,826 70,261 73,620 65,399 203,240 - - 475,346 France 16,710 16,600 4,400 - 9,618 - - 47,328
Australia - - - - 35,000 - - 35,000
United States - - - - - - - -
