In 2025, Morocco attracted more than twice as much foreign direct investment as Algeria. Inflows reached approximately $3.3 billion in Morocco, compared with approximately $1.5 billion in Algeria, according to UNCTAD data.
Chinese company Sanlian Forging is outlining its European setup: a factory in Tangier to cut transportation time from 45 days to 3 or 4 days, and a sales presence in Frankfurt to move closer to its customers directly.
Textile workers in Tangier are leaving factories to join teams paid by the piece, which are seen as freer and more profitable. The system is used by manufacturers to handle foreign orders, but ultimately worsens their labor shortage.
In 2025, the European Union bought €25.5 billion worth of goods from Morocco and €26.5 billion from Algeria. With a difference of only one billion euros, the amounts are almost identical. But the composition of exports is radically different.
South Korean sales to Morocco accelerated sharply in June 2026. Korean trade statistics notably show an unusual figure: nearly 40% of the value exported that month consisted of weapons and ammunition.
The hourly labor cost in the manufacturing industry is approximately 2.8 dollars in Morocco, compared with only 0.7 dollars in Egypt. Despite this one-to-four gap, the World Bank considers that Moroccan textiles retain several advantages over their competitors.
In 2022, Morocco and Israel announced the creation of special industrial zones intended to give concrete form to their cooperation with the United States. Four years later, no Moroccan zone is included in the corresponding official U.S. framework.
The future Gotion High-Tech battery plant in Kénitra will be directly connected to the railway network. Morocco has just allocated nearly 24 hectares of land for the construction of this new infrastructure.
Morocco Is Moving into a New Dimension in the U.S. Military Framework . Washington has just added the Kingdom to a network of five sites where defense companies will be able to test drones, counter-drone systems, missiles and new combat technologies. It is the only site in the framework located outside the United States.
The European Union has just maintained a hefty tariff on certain technical fabrics shipped from Morocco. The particularity: the 30.7% duty applies even when these products are declared to be of Moroccan origin.
Morocco continues to be driven by a powerful investment cycle. But behind the major construction projects, the World Bank is identifying the first signs of a slowdown: in the first quarter of 2026, cement sales fell by 11 % year on year.
Moroccan automotive exports declined in 2025. The World Bank attributes this to less dynamic European demand, but also to the growing competition from Chinese electric vehicles in the kingdom’s main markets.