The Moroccan government traditionally made an announcement about the distribution of quotas for long steel imports in 2021. The changes in allocation between companies were not drastic, though some key takers had lower volumes this time.

The Ministry of Industry, Trade, Investment and Digital Economy distributed long steel volumes between importers under earlier set quotas. While the total rebar tonnages inched up from 106,294 t last year to 116,923 in 2021, the numbers for wire rod supplies remained unchanged at 146,410 t, according to the official statement.

The allocations between the companies changed to a certain extent. SMM Socadam Davum, a key importer of rebar was given 38% of the total duty-free volumes versus 44% earlier. The share of Rivera Metal decreased from 33% to 30%, Metal Expert has learnt. At the same time, changes in the wire rod segment did not exceed 1%. All volumes exceeding the mentioned quotas will be subject to a duty of MAD 550/t ($61.4/t; $1 = MAD 8.958).

Morocco imported at least 218,000 t of long steel products over the first nine months of 2020, according to the International Trade Centre. Turkey carried the palm with volumes around 114,000 t, followed by Portugal (87,000 t) and Spain (10,000 t) over the reported period.

Top-5 takers of rebar and wire rod quotas in Morocco

* – including other companies, which are not mentioned in the table