Exports of phosphates and derivatives as well as those of the automobile crossed the 100 billion dirham mark in the first eleven months of 2022 alone, indicated the Foreign Exchange Office in its latest report on monthly indicators of foreign trade.
For the first eleven months of 2022, imports to Morocco reached a sum of 676,815 MDH against 475,678 MDH at the end of November 2021, an increase of 42.3%, even an exact growth of 201,137 MDH. For their part, exports increased by 33.1%, standing at 389,769 MDH at the end of November 2022 compared to the revenue of 292,749 MDH a year earlier, i.e. more than 97,020 MDH. Thus, the trade deficit increased by 56.9%. The coverage rate, meanwhile, lost 3.9 points, 57.6% against 61.5%.
With regard to imports by main product, the increase follows the increase in purchases of all product groups, in particular energy, food, crude products, etc. According to statistics provided by the Foreign Exchange Office, the energy bill has more than doubled to 141,550 MDH at the end of November 2022.
This development is explained by the increase in purchases of all energy products, mainly those of diesel and fuel oils, recording more than 38,369 MDH, driven by the rise in prices which more than doubled, 10,311 DH/T against 5,093DH/T, and to a lesser extent by that of quantities with +9.6%. Regarding imports of semi-finished products, such as ammonia, chemicals, plastics, these increased by 49.1%, following the strong growth in purchases of ammonia which recorded 19,299 MDH against 6,306 MDH last year.
As for imports of food products, they posted an increase of 48.8%, or more than 26,295 MDH. This increase is dependent on increased wheat supplies which have soared due to price inflation. In addition, the quantities imported increased by 35.6%. Barley purchases notably experienced a significant increase of more than 2,455 MDH, recording at the end of November 2022, 3,198 MDH against 743 MDH in 2021.
Imports of raw products, for their part, increased by 54.1% following the volume of purchases of raw and unrefined sulphur, estimated at more than 8,302 MDH.
Regarding exports of goods, these stood at 389,769 MDH at the end of November 2022 against 292,749 MDH during the same period in 2021, an increase of 33.1% or more than 97,020 MDH. This recorded increase is thanks to the exports of all sectors, at their head, phosphates and derivatives, the automotive sector and that of agriculture and agri-food.
Sales of phosphates and derivatives increased by 54.8% to reach 108,044 MDH at the end of November 2022 against 69,780 MDH at the end of November 2021, due to the increase in exports of natural and chemical fertilizers of more than 30,024 MDH, following the inflationary wave. However, the quantities exported fell by 12.1%.
For the automotive sector, sales amounted to 100,375 MDH, showing an increase of 35%, or more than 26,031 MDH for the first eleven months of 2022. These exports for the first time crossed the 100 mark. billion dirhams. The change mainly concerns sales in the construction segment (+46.2%), those in the wiring segment (+27.6%) and, to a lesser extent, those in the vehicle interiors and seats segment (3. 4%).
However, exports of the agriculture and agri-food sector reached a revenue of 73,807 MDH at the end of November 2022 against 62,368 MDH during the same period of the previous year, an increase of 18.3% or +11,439 MDH. This is explained by the simultaneous increase in sales of the food industry (+21.8% or +7,240MDH) and those of agriculture, forestry and hunting (+13.7% or +3,758MDH).
For their part, textile and leather exports increased by 22.2% or +7,430MDH during the first eleven months of the year thanks to the increase in sales of ready-made clothing (+23.2% or +4,856MDH). ), knitwear (+14.4% or +992MDH) and shoes (+33.2% or +797MDH).