Morocco’s Exports Plummet 18% Amid COVID-19 Crisis, Auto Industry Hit Hard

Exports amounted to 121.30 billion dirhams at the end of June 2020 compared to 148.53 billion dirhams during the same period last year, representing a decrease of 18.3%. This decline is due to the decrease in shipments from almost all sectors.

The automotive industry is the first sector severely affected by the health crisis related to Covid-19. Its export turnover contracted by 13.8 billion dirhams to reach 28.34 billion dirhams at the end of June. According to the explanations of the Office of Foreign Exchange, the evolution of exports in this sector in the first half of 2020 is linked to the 40% decline in construction sales (-7.42 billion dirhams), 38.8% in cabling (-6.50 billion dirhams) and 26% in vehicle interiors and seats (-1.05 billion dirhams).

The textile sector, the second most impacted, recorded a loss of nearly 7 billion dirhams. Sector sales experienced a 34.9% depreciation and generated 12.33 billion dirhams at the end of June. This drop in revenue is mainly explained by the decline in sales of ready-made garments (-4.83 billion dirhams) and knitwear (-1.41 billion dirhams).

As for the aeronautics sector, exports fell by 18.1%, a loss of 1.53 billion dirhams in value in the first half of the year. As for export sales of agriculture and agri-food, they contracted by 4.3%, from 34.64 billion dirhams in 2019 to 33.14 billion dirhams at the end of June this year. The reason is the decline in food industry sales of 6.4% or -1.09 billion dirhams.