Morocco’s Butane Gas Industry in Crisis: Distributors Demand Government Action

The national union of gas distributors and depots in Morocco calls on the government to look into the "miserable" situation of professionals in the butane and propane gas sector, says Ahmed Nadif, secretary general of the union. "Legally, and in the eyes of the State, we are not gas distributors, but depots. When I landed in the sector, I found that all the professionals were not only doing the depot, but also the distribution. So I started doing it too. Even the profit margin (5 to 6 DH per gas bottle) that the State has granted us, it was given to us as depots and not distributors."

For him, the situation was being managed at best but with "the surge in fuel prices, spare parts for distribution vehicles, oils, tires, the SMIG", this bodes nothing good according to the secretary general. "But the profit margin of the distributors, it has not moved. We therefore wish that the departments in charge of the sector, in particular the Ministry of Energy Transition, Transport and the Interior in addition to the Presidency of the Government", says Ahmed Nadif, who points out that a strike risks igniting the sector if the difficulties encountered by the professionals in the sector "are not taken seriously".

In Morocco, the real price of a 12 kg gas bottle, used by Moroccans, is 130 DH. The State subsidizes each bottle up to 90 DH. According to the delegate minister in charge of the budget, Fouzi Lekjaa, the overall cost of this subsidy has increased by 60%. It went from 9MMDH in 2020 to nearly 14MMDH in 2021.