Rabat – After almost two years of going haywire, energy, and food prices are dropping, bringing down the cost of imports in Morocco.
At the end of the third quarter of 2023, Morocco’s export, and import unit value indices have both dropped, with a 17.2% and 18.1% year-on-year, according to a recent report from the Higher Commission for Planning (HCP).
The drop in export and import unit value indices is considered to reflect either falling prices or decreased demand for imported commodities.
The HCP report explains that the drop in the value of imports is primarily the result of sliding energy pricing, noting that the sub-index tracking energy prices fell by a sweeping 34.0%.
The positive trend extends beyond energy prices, the report notes. At the end of the third quarter of 2023, the index tracking prices of food, beverage, and tobacco equally fell by 17.2% year-on-year, and the index tracking prices of imported raw animal and vegetable products dropped by 22.9%.
Meanwhile, imported goods destined for the national industry experienced the most significant price drop across all categories, with raw mineral products taking a 66.7% nosedive, and semi-finished goods dropping by 21.5%%.
The downturn in export prices, however, was due to the 51% drop in prices of semi-finished goods, a 25.4% drop in raw mineral products, and a 17% drop in prices of energy and lubricants.
The HCP report echoes an earlier report from Morocco’s Office d’Echange (OE), the country’s foreign trade watchdog, indicating that the drop in the value of imports is positively affecting its trade deficit at the end of November 2023.
The OE report shows that over the first 11 months of 2023, the country’s trade balance rose by a mere 7.6%, compared to 57% a year earlier.
OE equally argued that the recovery in Morocco’s trade deficit is propelled by the drop in the country’s energy bill, as well as in the cost of semi-finished products, and raw products — products used for the national industry.
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