Rabat - Truck drivers who transport fruits and vegetables to wholesale markets have been on strike, causing prices to skyrocket, since Friday.
Rabat – Truck drivers who transport fruits and vegetables to wholesale markets have been on strike, causing prices to skyrocket, since Friday.
The supply of fruits and vegetables has decreased by 33 percent, according to Moroccan media outlet Assabah.
Casablanca, which typically receives 1,400 truckloads of produce daily, only received 540 on Friday, driven in by vans or trailers.
Prices have risen across all fruits and vegetables. Potatoes’ wholesale price, for example, increased from MAD 2.5 per kilogram to 4, while the price of onions rose from MAD 0.8 per kilogram to 3.
The price of fruit increased even more: Grapes increased from MAD 5 per kilogram to 12.
Truck drivers and owners have said they will continue striking until their demands are met. The strike is protesting the reduction of allowable tonnage trucks can legally transport, according to a firm specialized in the transport and supply of fruits and vegetable in an interview with Moroccan media outlet Yabiladi.
The strike is also caused by rising oil prices, which peaked globally in early October.
