One week before the sacred month of Ramadan, the Moroccan date market is under tension. The drop in imports due to quotas and the impact of the drought on local production are leading to a surge in prices and risks of fraud.
In the Oriental region, the sharp rise in the prices of Algerian Deglet Nour dates has sparked heated controversy. Faced with this inflation, voices are calling for a boycott in favor of Morocco’s national production.
The Spanish Federation of Fruit and Vegetable Producers (Fepex) used the Fruit Logistica trade show in Berlin to launch an offensive against agricultural imports from Morocco. The organization highlighted a one-to-ten labor cost gap and the use of plant protection substances banned in the EU.
On Tuesday, Morocco introduced definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of PVC from Egypt for a period of five years. The fiscal measure, which follows an investigation into unfair competition, imposes prohibitive rates of up to 92.19%.
The price of dates is soaring in Morocco as Ramadan approaches, due to new customs restrictions aimed at protecting local production from dumping. These control measures, coupled with allegations of fraud on the origin of the products, are weighing on the purchasing power of consumers.
The Moroccan government has recently decided to more strictly regulate the importation of foreign dates , a measure intended to protect local producers but which is causing great concern in Tunisia.
The announcement of the restoration of import quotas on Tunisian dates in Morocco marks a sudden halt to trade between the two countries. This decision, taken in the middle of a record harvest season in Tunisia, weakens a sector that has historically been dependent on the Moroccan market to sell its volumes.
The Office of Foreign Exchange has intensified its controls on hundreds of operations suspected of manipulation by Moroccan importers. These maneuvers, involving several billion dirhams, aim to undervalue goods in order to illegally transfer foreign currency outside the regulated circuits.
The axe has fallen for importers of Egyptian PVC . After a year of investigation, the Ministry of Industry has confirmed the existence of unfair trade practices that penalize Moroccan producers and recommends the immediate application of heavy definitive customs duties.
The Chinese manufacturer BYD , which has embarked on the conquest of the Moroccan automotive market, is beginning to make inroads to the point of putting its European competitors Renault, Volkswagen or Nissan in difficulty.
Over the past three seasons, Morocco has tripled its imports of dates from Egypt, becoming the main destination for Egyptian exporters.
The Évry criminal court sentenced Amar K., 72 years old, and his accomplice Naour Addine T., 50 years old, to prison for importing cannabis resin from Spain via Morocco.