Chinese E-commerce Threatens Moroccan Textile Industry, Sparks Calls for Regulation

This Chinese site applies low prices due to the exemption from customs duties, jeopardizing competition, say professionals, denouncing a disguised smuggling activity, reports Assabah.

This virtual infiltration of the ready-to-wear market threatens the sub-sector, the same source points out, explaining that purchases under 1,200 dirhams are normally exempt from customs duties. Meanwhile, Moroccan products are subject to a long list of taxes. The latter represent no less than 68% of the composition of the selling price.

A situation that pushes certain networks to exploit this legal loophole and to import significant quantities, in particular by calling on other people to place orders below the legal threshold. As a result, in one month, this platform has recorded 80,000 commercial transactions on Moroccan soil. Figures that make it the leading seller and distributor of clothing and ready-to-wear in Morocco, the newspaper is alarmed.

Faced with this situation, professionals say they are unable to compete with the products offered by the Chinese platform. They fear the bankruptcy of several companies in the sector, especially the small and medium-sized ones in an industry with 1,628 companies and 1,890,000 jobs.