Algerian Spread Outsells Nutella in Morocco Despite Diplomatic Rift

In Morocco, the El Mordjene spread, an Algerian product, is experiencing a resounding success to the point of outperforming Nutella. Available in the "stalls and specialty grocery stores in contraband products that abound throughout the kingdom", this product is expensive, reports L’Opinion. In Morocco, the 700-gram jar is sold for more than 350 dirhams, while it does not exceed the equivalent of 40 dirhams in Algeria. A windfall for merchants. One of them operating in the city of Rabat has even confessed that he manages to sell about fifty pots of El Mordjene per month, "which is not bad given its price".

However, this Algerian spread is not stamped "Made in Algeria". The El Mordjene jars sold in Morocco are clearly stamped "Made in Türkiye". With this inscription, the El Mordjene jars can more easily enter Morocco, which has signed a free trade agreement with Turkey, estimates the president of the Consumer Protection Association (UNICONSO), Ouadie Madih, however seeking to know why this product, if it is really produced in Turkey, is not freely sold in supermarkets, or why the jars do not bear the stamp of the National Office of Sanitary Safety of Food Products (ONSSA).

An online merchant based in Agadir seems to have the answer. She explains that El Mordjene is clandestinely introduced into Morocco. The jars arrive in the kingdom in the luggage of Moroccan nationals residing in Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates or Qatar, who sell them once they arrive in Morocco, she specifies. And to add that merchants then take over and resell the products online, and even offer home delivery for a price that can reach, or even exceed, 400 dirhams for the 700-gram jar.

Algerian dates, particularly the Deglet Nour variety, are the other product that sells well on the Moroccan market despite boycott campaigns. These dates are generally preferred to Moroccan dates, "whose quality has declined over the years, unlike their prices, which remain high", reports the media Actu-Maroc. While some are wondering about the circuit traveled by Algerian dates before entering Morocco, merchants from Bni Drar, a border town, assure that they have legally imported these dates via the ports of Béni Ansar in Nador or via that of Tangier.

The dangerousness of Algerian dates has been raised several times by consumers, but this has been denied by the National Office of Sanitary Safety of Food Products (ONSSA).