Rabat – The Moroccan Competition Council has released a comprehensive report shedding light on the competitive dynamics of the school textbook market in the country, highlighting key issues including insufficient supplies and losses for local bookstores.
One of the most pressing concerns highlighted in the report is the erratic and unpredictable regulatory mechanism governing the market.
Periodic yearly revisions to textbooks, whether minor or significant, render older editions obsolete and unsuitable for classroom use.
Consequently, booksellers accumulate massive inventories of outdated textbooks that they cannot sell, resulting in substantial losses, especially for smaller sellers who cannot take on the burden.
It also creates logistical challenges when it comes to the storage and disposal of the unsold books.
The report also highlights that directives from 2010 to implement new specifications for textbooks were ultimately abandoned, leaving publishers without clear guidance on how to conduct their activities.
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The report also emphasizes the issue of printers’ capacity to meet the high demand for textbooks, especially during the start of the school year.
Due to delays by the ministry in placing orders and cost constraints resulting from fixed public selling prices that have remained unchanged for over two decades, some publishing houses have resorted to foreign printers, particularly Spanish and Italian ones.
Experts estimate that up to 50% of school textbooks are printed abroad, and the insufficient capacity of the foreign printers poses a significant challenge in meeting market demand and deadlines.
In addition to these concerns, the report indicates that the Moroccan school textbook market has remained stagnant since the suspension of competitive bidding in 2008, which effectively limited the number of publishers operating in the market.
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Parent and students have long complained about various issues in the market, with prices being one of the major pain points, especially with the increasing numbers of books and other school supplies that students require.
