Algerian Blockade Costs Spain €‎930 Million

Rabat- Algeria’s blockade on Spanish imports and exports has been ongoing for the past nine months, and Madrid is now turning to the EU for financial aid to compensate for its losses. 

Algeria blocked all trade with Spain after the Spanish government endorsed Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible basis to end the Western Sahara dispute.  

Brussels and Madrid are in talks to launch an aid package that will support the Spanish companies affected by the Algerian blockade. Trade between Algeria and Spain has dropped by 84% since December 2022, resulting in a major blow to the Spanish companies that once had major markets in Algeria, Spanish outlet El Periodico reported.

Spain’s Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Tourism has initiated contact with the European Commission to put a plan in place and help the businesses that are being directly impacted by the situation. 

In addition to the aid plan, the Spanish government is coming up with new ways to diversify their markets and become less dependent on Algeria, El Periodico added.

Eye-watering losses

Spain’s exports to Algeria amounted to 176.2 million euros between June and November 2022, Spanish Secretary of State for Trade within the Ministry of Industry has said, noting there has since been a loss of around 930 million euros due to the boycott. 

The blockade is particularly affecting businesses in Spain’s Valencia region which had the most substantial exports to Algeria in the whole of the European country. 

The President of the Catalonian Parliament, Ximo Puig, has publicly requested for the EU’s high representatives to take a stand on the issue. However, the ongoing situation of the Russia-Ukraine war, a deepening financial crisis across the EU, and most EU countries’ keenness to secure gas deals with Algeria suggest Brussels is unlikely to pick up a diplomatic fight with Algeria.  

Since the blockade began in June 2022, Spain has dropped from being Algeria’s second-largest foreign supplier to the ninth, with Spanish companies now supplying just 2% of Algerian imports.

While the knock-on effect is being felt in Spain’s exports to Algeria, there is no sign of a negative impact on imports, as Algeria continues to supply gas to the Spanish market. In fact, the gas supply accounts for nearly all of the purchases by Spain in the North African country.

Calls for help

Spain has long-expressed growing concerns over the situation with Algeria. In January, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told Europa Press that the blockade was ongoing and it was down to the EU to fix the issue. 

Spanish government sources say that this blockade is not only affecting Spain but other European countries as well, because of how the supply and production chains are integrated.  

In his comments to Europa Press, Albares insisted that Spain has not done anything to receive the blockade or the frozen friendship treaty between Algeria-Spain. 

The 20-year treaty, which ensured the two countries’ cooperation on migrant flows, trade, and other sectors, was unilaterally discarded by Algeria after Madrid mended ties with Rabat and unequivocally embraced Morocco’s plan for a lasting settlement of the Western Sahara dispute.