Morocco’s Gold Paradox: Imports Soar 51% as Local Jewelry Market Stagnates

According to official data in the 2024 annual report, the Customs and Indirect Taxes Administration recorded a 51% increase in Moroccan imports of "industrial gold" between 2023 and 2024. An increase representing an additional financial value of 0.3 billion dirhams, reaching 0.9 billion dirhams, compared to 0.6 billion at the end of 2023. Meanwhile, the local market is stagnant. And for good reason, "many members of the Moroccan diaspora now prefer to buy gold and jewelry in their country of residence or abroad, rather than stimulating the Moroccan market," explains Mohamed Mourchid, president of the National Association of Artisans and Industrialists of Jewelry and Jewelry in Morocco, to Hespress.

"Morocco is not an exception, but the situation is part of a global crisis context marked by a continuous rise in gold prices and strong demand in recent years, considered as a safe haven in times of crisis," he added, also specifying that "the deterioration of the purchasing power of the majority of social classes in Morocco contributes to the current situation."

Regarding the fight against money laundering, the Customs Administration stated in its report on the past fiscal year, "to continue its activities on the front of the fight against money laundering and illicit financial flows, by continuously strengthening on the ground the control and monitoring mechanisms." "Among the notable operations of 2024 were: significant sums, gold and silver ingots, precious stones, as well as luxury watches and jewelry seized by the customs services," the report states, without specifying the volume or value of the ingots or jewelry seized by Moroccan customs.

For Mourchid, it is necessary to "support authorized investors and professionals to import certified and customs-guaranteed gold." He also calls for "simplifying import regulations and procedures in order to stifle the activities of traffickers of ingots and jewelry (...) who have started to market suspicious or counterfeit products on social networks." The professional also raised "the need to strengthen control over the ’temporary export license for improvement of unfinished work’, issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade without monitoring its impact," describing it as a "rent license" that contributes to the stagnation of the market and the weakness of demand.