Expecting a solid cereal harvest, the Government recently approved the restoration of the common wheat import duty at 135 percent from the previous level of 30 percent, effective until 31 October this year. Import duties are periodically revised depending on the supply-demand situation in the country; the duty was cut to 30 percent in October last year (FPMA Food Policies). At harvesting time from May to July, duties are usually increased to protect local producers from foreign competition. To support production, the reference price for purchasing local standard quality soft wheat was set at MAD 280/100kg (USD 299.7 per tonne), compared to USD 213 per tonne in the international market. In addition, the Government announced subsidies to millers to incentivise the purchase of domestic wheat over imports, including a flat rate subsidy of MAD 10/100kg (USD 10.7 per tonne) to millers using local wheat and a storage premium of MAD 2/100kg (USD 2.1 per tonne) every15 days to partially offset the costs for storage agencies. The measures applies for locally-harvested wheat between May 16 and October 15. The 2018 wheat crop is forecast at 7.1 million tonnes, the same level as in 2017 and above average, despite a late onset of rains. The country heavily relies on wheat imports to cover its consumption needs, with the European Union and the Black Sea region supplying most of the common soft wheat.