In Casablanca, the “poor people’s flour” ends up in clandestine bakeries
Subsidized flour intended for the poorest households was found in an informal bakery in Casablanca. The initial findings of the investigation point to a network that allegedly distributed several tonnes of the product for commercial purposes.
The discovery was made in Hay El Hassani by the monitoring services of the Ministry of the Interior. Numerous bags of subsidized national flour were being used in an informal bakery to make bread intended for sale, reports the daily Assabah.
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Yet this flour is not intended for the conventional commercial circuit. Its distribution is reserved for areas and quantities determined by an interministerial commission, with the aim of supporting the poorest social groups. Investigators are therefore seeking to understand how such large volumes could have reached this bakery.
Several tonnes allegedly diverted
The initial evidence gathered goes far beyond the case of a single establishment. A clandestine network allegedly supplied several informal bakeries and distributed several tonnes of subsidized flour. The product was allegedly resold with a markup of 50 centimes per kilo.
The system would allow for a double margin: the network profits from the resale, while the bakeries obtain a raw material at a lower cost than that of flour normally intended for professionals. Meanwhile, the product purchased with state aid no longer reaches the households for which it was intended.
The financial stakes are considerable. According to data from the Ministry of the Economy cited by Assabah, public support for this flour exceeds two billion dirhams per year, with a subsidy of two dirhams per kilo covering a quota of 6.5 million quintals of soft wheat.
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The investigation must now trace the entire distribution chain. The quantities discovered suggest that the informal bakeries could not have obtained this “poor people’s flour” on their own. Inspectors are therefore seeking to identify those who, upstream, allegedly enabled several tonnes of subsidized flour to leave the channel for which they were intended.
