Morocco Sees Surge in Egyptian Potato Imports Amid Trade Tensions

According to Challenge, the National Office of Sanitary Safety of Food Products (ONSSA) has authorized the Egyptian Agricultural Quarantine to export potatoes to Morocco. A decision that comes after the announcement by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of its intention to impose anti-dumping duties on canned tomatoes from Egypt, following a request from the National Federation of Agri-Food (FENAGRI) dated August 7th last.

Since last year, Egypt has become the leading supplier of canned tomatoes to Morocco. But these imports are subject to special monitoring in order to protect local tomato concentrate producers against any unfair competition from this country, which is flooding the Moroccan market with agri-food products and clothing, taking advantage of the free trade agreement with the kingdom.

"Recently, Egypt has devalued its currency to a record level after a massive rise in interest rates. The Egyptian pound has lost a third of its value against the dollar... It is therefore logical that their products become more competitive for any importer, helped in this by the Moroccan currency which remains stable," explains economist Abdeslam Touhami, quoted by Challenge, stressing that "Egyptian labor is cheap".

And he adds: "With the current context of rising prices, it will be difficult for the government to block imports, especially of low-priced food products. On the contrary, it will encourage it to relieve the household basket". In 2022, Moroccan imports crossed the 10.3 billion dirham mark.